A Saudi-led military coalition said on Sunday it had launched air strikes on Houthi rebels military targets in southwest Yemen that Houthi-run media said had hit a prison, killing dozens of people. The Sunni Muslim coalition, which has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement for more than four years in Yemen, said in a statement carried on Saudi state television that it destroyed a site storing drones and missiles in Dhamar. Residents told Reuters there had been six air strikes and that a complex in the city being used as a detention centre had been hit. The Houthi health ministry spokesman, in comments carried on the group s Al Masirah TV, said 60 bodies had been pulled from rubble at the prison and that the number could rise. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the number of casualties. "The explosions were strong and shook the city," one resident said. "Afterwards ambulance sirens could be heard until dawn." The alliance intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthis after they ousted the internationally recognised government from power in the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014. The movement, which holds most major population centres in the Arabian peninsula nation, has stepped up cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent months. The Saudi-led alliance has responded with strikes on Houthi targets. The coalition said it had taken measures to protect civilians in Dhamar and the assault complied with international law. Al Masirah quoted the head of the Houthis national committee for prisoner affairs, Abdul Qader al-Mortada, as saying the detention centre in Dhamar housed 170 prisoners. The United Nations is trying to ease tension in Yemen to prepare for political negotiations to end the war that has killed tens of thousands and pushed the long-impoverished country to the brink of famine. *This story was edited by Ahram Online

Fighting shook Aden again on Wednesday when government forces attacked the Yemeni city s eastern suburbs and fought artillery duels with southern separatists, residents said, deepening the rift between supposed allies in a Saudi-led coalition. Forces of the Saudi-backed government have recaptured most of the neighbouring towns they had previously lost to the separatists before moving towards the port city of Aden, they said. The government s information minister Moammar al-Eryani said on Twitter that government forces had taken Aden s airport from the separatists. The separatists and the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi are nominally united under the Saudi-led coalition in their battle against Yemen s Houthi movement. The Sunni Muslim coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that ousted Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014. His government relocated to Aden. Witnesses said clashes could be heard in Aden s al-Arech and Khor Maksar districts, as well as around Aden s airport, which has been under the control of the government forces since 2015. Government forces took control of Zinjibar, the capital of the neighbouring Abyan, earlier on Monday, after securing most of the oil producing province of Shabwa and its liquefied natural gas terminal in Balfaf.

On the face of it, Algeria s state-dominated economy has weathered six months of turmoil well, with flightloads of public sector workers heading abroad for holidays even as protesters who ousted the veteran president in April now target his allies. But business, and leisure, as usual for the North African country s army of state employees masks a growing economic drama behind the standoff between political, business, labour and military elites and those determined to force them out. The country s rich oil and gas resources are still flowing, but thousands of jobs are on the line and growth is stuttering in an economy where official data shows one in four of the under-30s, who form 70 percent of the population, is unemployed. The resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April was followed by the appointment of an interim president overseen by the military, and corruption investigations have been opened into some of those around the former leader. Putting tycoons close to Bouteflika behind bars was a key demand of the protests. But while investigations drag on, five big firms across sectors from sugar to cars are almost paralysed as their owners struggle to sign pay checks or orders to import materials because their bank accounts have been frozen. Malik, one of 15,000 employees of detained businessman Ali Haddad, said he had just been sacked as a reporter for Dzayer TV. "The managers told me there is no more money," he said, withholding his second name for fear of repercussions. Haddad denies wrongdoing and the interim government says it will find ways to safeguard jobs, but after three months without pay, hundreds of his workers have joined tens of thousands of demonstrators who gather weekly in the capital Algiers. Elections for a successor for Bouteflika have been postponed indefinitely, despite a dialogue between opposition parties and the non-party government managed by army chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah. To limit further dissent, the interim government has held back planned reforms, initiated towards the end of Bouteflika s 20-year rule, to wind down subsidies, open the economy to investment and create jobs outside bloated public services. An energy law to cut red tape is on hold and inside Algeria s sprawling state energy company Sonatrach, which is hoping to boost production by linking up with oil majors, there is growing concern. "Output is ongoing at Sonatrach, but everything else is completely frozen including talks with Exxon and Chevron," a Sonatrach source told Reuters, declining to be named due to the delicate political situation. Exxon declined to comment and Chevron was not immediately available. Any deal with a foreign firm is sensitive in Algeria and needs the support of a permanent president, not a caretaker: the source said it was not clear when the talks may restart. "No visibility for the short term as politics not economics is at the top of the agenda for now," the source said. The company spokesman was not immediately available for comment. The country is a key gas supplier and security partner to Europe in a volatile region: Islamist militants are on the rise in West Africa and to the east, in Libya, two rival governments are fighting for control. The government has given no growth forecast for this year, but Algiers University economics professor Abderrahmane Aya said the turmoil will cost this year s GDP one percentage point of growth, which reached 2.3% in 2018, and could get much worse. "No one can now imagine the magnitude of the economic problem," he said. No strategy? Bouteflika s fall came as authorities began trying to persuade citizens that a welfare state providing unproductive state jobs and guaranteeing cheap housing, petrol, food, drugs and free hospital treatment was no longer viable. Oil and gas provide 94% of export earnings and 60% of the budget, but earnings fell 6.3% to $17.65 billion in Jan-June with rising energy consumption eating into gas exports. Imports, averaging $50 billion a year, provide most of Algeria s needs, legacy of a reluctance to allow foreign investment due to its 1954-62 independence war with France and once strong ties with the Soviet Union. The trade deficit rose 12% in the first half of this year, customs data showed. "Everything seems to indicate that we are going through a long period of economic uncertainty," Abdelhak Lamiri, a former government economic adviser, wrote in the El Watan newspaper. "The government is not empowered to take strategic decisions." Houari Tigharsi, an economist and member of parliament s finance committee, said investors were apprehensive and non-energy domestic production capacity was down 50 percent. "If the crisis drags on, we will not only see a fall in growth but the economy will even face disaster," he said. Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah has resisted calls to quit from protesters who see him as symbol of the old regime. He says the only way out of the crisis is to hold elections "as soon as possible". Cars Algeria had vowed to develop the car industry, but reduced quotas of car spare parts imports for private vehicle assemblies after the bill rose by a fifth to $1.234 billion in the first four months of this year. Importers get money in foreign currencies from state banks. Foreign exchange reserves fell by $7.28 billion in the first four months to $72.6 billion. In 2014, when crude prices were at $100 a barrel, they were $178 billion. Industry Minister Djamila Tamazirt told reporters the quota reductions were "transitional measures to adjust the balance of payments" and correct incentives aimed at the automotive sector. Four private companies assembling cars are now cutting production, despite growing demand from the country s 43 million people which may drive up prices of second-hand cars. Family-owned firm Sovac, which runs an assembly plant with Germany s Volkswagen, has suspended orders for this year. Sovac head Mourad Eulmi is being investigated for graft, which he denies. Around 800 workers assembling vehicles under the Hyundai brand were given forced leave by their employer Tahkout Manufacturing in July due to lack of raw materials, according to state media. While sectors like food, home appliances and mobile phones have been opened up to private companies, the non-energy sector grew by just 4% last year, up from 2.2% the year before. Bureaucracy abounds and dominant state banks have little experience of commercial lending. "We will need bank financing to expand our investment," said Ziad Loucif, communication manager at Cuisinox, a private firm focused on kitchen equipment manufacturing, mainly for hotels. "We want the state to facilitate investment." Work on a 185-km (115-mile) railway line has stopped and some 200 employees were put on forced leave for a "lack of liquidity". The project belonged to detained Bouteflika ally Haddad. "The government is working to find legal solutions for these companies," Finance Minister Mohamed Loukal told state news agency APS. "I can assure you that production tools and jobs at these companies will be safeguarded."

Iran will not talk to the United States until all sanctions imposed on Tehran are lifted, President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump said he would meet his Iranian counterpart to try to end a nuclear standoff. Trump said on Monday he would meet Iran s president under the right circumstances to end a confrontation that began when Washington pulled out of Tehran s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions on the country. Trump also said talks were under way to see how countries could open credit lines to keep Iran s economy afloat. Rouhani said Iran was always ready to hold talks. "But first the U.S. should act by lifting all illegal, unjust and unfair sanctions imposed on Iran," he said in a speech broadcast live on state TV. Speaking at a G7 summit in the French resort of Biarritz, Trump ruled out lifting economic sanctions to compensate for losses suffered by Iran. "Washington has the key for positive change ... So take the first step ... Without this step, this lock will not be unlocked," Rouhani said. European parties to the deal have struggled to calm the deepening confrontation between Iran and the United States since Trump pulled Washington out last year. French President Emmanuel Macron has led efforts to defuse tensions and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif flew in to the Biarritz G7 meeting unexpectedly on Sunday for side talks with French officials. Since ditching the deal last year, Trump has pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” to try to force Iran into broader talks to restrict its ballistic missile program and end its support for proxy forces around the Middle East. "Iran does not seek tension with the world. We want security in the Middle East. We want better and friendly ties with other countries," said Rouhani. Scaling back commitments Iran, which has slowly been breaching the nuclear deal in retaliation for U.S. sanctions, has threatened further violations in early September unless it receives sanctions relief. "We will continue to scale back our commitments under the 2015 deal if our interests are not guaranteed," said Rouhani. The 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers, reached under former U.S. President Barack Obama, aimed to curb Iran’s disputed uranium enrichment program in exchange for the lifting of many international sanctions on Tehran. Iran has ruled out talks with Washington over its military capabilities, particularly its ballistic missile program that it says is defensive. It denies the missiles are capable of being tipped with nuclear warheads and says its nuclear program is peaceful. Rouhani said seeking nuclear bomb weapons was banned under a fatwa issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referring to a religious decree issued in the early 2000s by Iran s top authority that bans the development or use of nuclear weapons. "We have never wanted nuclear weapons because of our supreme leader s fatwa," said Rouhani. Trump and Rouhani are both due to attend the United Nations General Assembly in September. However, any meeting between Trump and Rouhani would have to be approved by Iran’s utmost authority Khamenei, who has the last say on all state matters.

There were signs of a thaw in frosty trade-war tensions between China and the US on Monday as President Donald Trump said delegations would "very shortly" resume talks and Beijing s top negotiator called for "calm". The two sides have been embroiled in a bruising year-long dispute that has seen tariffs slapped on billions of dollars worth of goods in two-way trade, with the row escalating over the weekend. But just three days after the announcement of further mutual tariff hikes, Trump told reporters at the G7 summit in France s Biarritz he had taken two "very, very good" phone calls from Chinese officials. "China called last night... said let s get back to the table. So we ll be getting back to the table," he said on Monday, adding that "they want to make a deal". Trump s comments followed moves by China s most powerful trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, to take the edge off the soaring tensions. "We are willing to solve the problem through consultation and cooperation with a calm attitude," said Liu, according to a report by Chinese news outlet Caixin. "We firmly oppose the escalation of the trade war," he said, speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2019 Smart China Expo in the southwestern city of Chongqing. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin travelled to Shanghai in July for a round of trade talks, where discussions were described as "constructive" but ended with no announcements. Monday s detente came after Trump increased tariffs on more than half-a-trillion dollars worth of imports in a new round of punitive measures that are roiling global markets. The US announcement on Friday followed an earlier surprise notification from Beijing that it would introduce fresh tariffs on US goods worth $75 billion. Some of these measures are due to take effect on September 1, with the rest to follow over the coming months. Currency tumbles On Twitter, Trump also told American firms to start looking for an alternative to production in China -- though he and his top aides later downplayed the idea. Meanwhile Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he was not aware of the calls mentioned by Trump and angrily criticised the latest tariffs at a regular press briefing in Beijing. The US move "tramples on multilateral trade rules, damages the interests of China and the United States, threatens the security of the global industrial supply chain, drags down international trade and world economic growth", he said. US allies have pressured Trump at the ongoing G7 summit, saying the trade war is putting the world economy at risk. China s currency slid to its weakest point in more than 11 years on Monday amid the ongoing tensions and fears of a global downturn. The onshore yuan was around 7.1425 to the US dollar in late-morning Asian trading -- its weakest point since early 2008 -- and by the afternoon it had reached 7.1581. The yuan, or renminbi as it is also known, is not freely convertible and the Chinese government limits its movement against the dollar to a two percent range on either side of a figure that the central bank sets each day. The People s Bank of China has set that rate steadily weaker in recent weeks -- allowing the yuan to depreciate, making Chinese exports cheaper and offsetting some of the burden of US tariffs. US politicians have long accused China of keeping its currency artificially low to increase the competitiveness of its manufacturers. The yuan breached the key 7.0 threshold against the dollar earlier in August, just days after the US announced its plans to impose tariffs next month on Chinese imports.

Two Israeli drones crashed in a Hezbollah stronghold in the Lebanese capital overnight without the militants firing on them, a spokesman for the group said Sunday, saying the first fell on the roof of a building housing Hezbollah s media office while the second landed in a plot behind it. The drones crashed amid heightened tensions between neighboring Israel and Iran, which backs Hezbollah, and shortly after Israeli warplanes attacked targets near the Syrian capital, Damascus. Israeli aircraft buzzed over Beirut on Sunday, hours after the drones crashed, raising fears of a wider conflict. Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif said a small, unmanned reconnaissance drone fell on a building housing Hezbollah s media office in the Moawwad neighborhood in Dahyeh, the group s stronghold in southern Beirut. He said a second drone, which appeared to have been sent by Israel to search for the first one less than 45 minutes later, exploded in the air and crashed in an empty plot nearby, causing damage to nearby buildings. He said the second drone was likely armed judging by the damage it caused. Residents said they heard a loud blast that triggered a nighttime fire. ``We did not shoot down or explode any of the drones, Afif told The Associated Press. He said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will give the official and ``appropriate response in a previously-scheduled televised appearance later Sunday. There was no immediate Israeli comment on Hezbollah s remarks. AP journalists on the scene Sunday said the 11-floor building that houses Hezbollah s media office as well as nearby buildings suffered minor damage and broken glass. On the second floor, where the group has its offices, shattered glass littered the floors and some of the desks were overturned. A portrait of Nasrallah was on a desk littered with glass. A Lebanese army statement said an Israeli drone came down while the other exploded in the sky over Beirut, causing material damage. Israeli warplanes regularly violate Lebanese airspace and have struck inside neighboring Syria from Lebanon on several occasions, angering Hezbollah and Lebanese officials, who have complained to the United Nations. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri described the crash of the two drones as a violation and ``aggression against Lebanese sovereignty. He said the developments overnight constitute a threat to regional stability and an attempt to push the situation toward more escalation. Late Saturday, Israeli warplanes struck targets near the Syrian capital in what the Israeli military said was a successful effort to thwart an imminent Iranian drone strike on Israel. The late-night airstrike, which triggered Syrian anti-aircraft fire, appeared to be one of the most intense attacks by Israeli forces in several years. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group, reported that two Hezbollah members and an Iranian militiaman were killed in that attack. But an Iranian general said the Israeli strikes in Syria did not cause any damage or casualties among Iranian forces there. The semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Gen. Mohsen Rezaei on Sunday as calling the Israeli claims a ``lie. Rezaei, a senior commander in Iran s Revolutionary Guard, said ``the defenders of Syria and Iraq will soon give an answer to recent attacks by Israel and the United States. In recent days, U.S. officials have said that Israeli strikes have hit Iranian targets in Iraq, in what would be a significant expansion of Israel s campaign targeting Iranian military entrenchment in the region. Iran supports Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as an array of government-allied militias in Syria and Iraq. Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks in recent years targeting Hezbollah and other Iranian targets in Syria. Israel views Iran as its greatest threat and has said it will not tolerate a permanent Iranian presence in Syria or the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah. Iran and Hezbollah are key military allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad in that country s eight-year-old civil war. Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong war in 2006. The volatile border between the two countries, which remain technically in a state of war, has been mostly calm since.

High school students have thronged a square in downtown Hong Kong to rally for political reforms as residents gird for further anti-government protests. Hundreds of teenagers, wearing black and holding umbrellas in the oppressive heat, turned out Thursday afternoon for the event, one of many demonstrations organized by different groups over the coming weeks. Hong Kong has been gripped for more than two months by at times violent protests led by young people demanding the withdrawal of a China extradition bill and full democracy. On Friday, the movement s supporters plan to form human chains across the Chinese city, inspired by a similar event 30 years ago in the Baltic states when hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians joined together to mourn the loss of independence to Soviet rule.

The leader of southern Yemeni separatists has arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at ending a standoff in Aden port between the separatists and Yemen s Saudi-backed government, who had been nominal allies under a Sunni Muslim military coalition. Saudi Arabia, the coalition leader, called for a summit after the separatists on Aug. 10 took over Aden, interim seat of the government, in a move that fractured the alliance. The ousted Yemeni government and coalition partner the United Arab Emirates traded blame over the crisis late on Tuesday. It was not clear if a delayed meeting involving both Yemeni sides would go ahead after the separatists extended their grip on the south on Tuesday by seizing government military camps in nearby Abyan. The separatist fighters are part of the Saudi-led alliance that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthis, who ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014. His government rebased to Aden. However, the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has a rival agenda to Hadi s government, which has refused to participate in any talks unless the southern forces reverse what it calls a coup. HADI GOVERNMENT, UAE TRADE ACCUSATIONS The standoff has complicated efforts to end the ruinous war and has exposed differences between regional allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which in June scaled down its presence in Yemen while still backing thousands of southern separatist fighters. STC chief Aidaroos al-Zubaidi arrived in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah late on Tuesday for the talks, the STC said. Hadi s government asked Abu Dhabi, which has called for dialogue, to stop funding and arming separatist forces. "If it were not for the full support provided by the United Arab Emirates ... this rebellion would not have happened. This scheme of fragmentation continues and is escalating despite calls for de-escalation led by Saudi Arabia," said a government letter to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday. The UAE responded by reaffirming its commitment to the coalition and criticising the "weak performance" and "ineffectiveness" of Hadi s government and its inability to engage in constructive dialogue with other Yemeni parties. "It is not appropriate for the Yemeni government to hang its political and administrative failure on the UAE," Abu Dhabi s deputy permanent U.N. representative said in New York. His remarks were carried on state news agency WAM on Wednesday. The STC said it would hold Aden until elements of the Islamist Islah, which the UAE regards as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and northerners are removed from power positions in the south. It also wants a say in Yemen s future. Yemeni sources have said the delayed summit could discuss reshuffling Hadi s government to include the STC, which seeks self-rule in the south and blames Islah, a key Hadi ally, of being complicit in a Houthi assault on southern forces earlier this month. The Islah party denies the charge. The Houthis point to Aden as proof that Hadi is unfit to rule. The group, which holds Sanaa and most big urban centres, has recently stepped up attacks on Saudi cities. The conflict, which has killed tens of thousands and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Sudan s ousted president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday arrived amid heavy security at the courthouse in the capital Khartoum where he is facing corruption charges, a Reuters witness said. Bashir is charged with illicit possession of foreign currency and accepting gifts in an unofficial manner, prosecutor Alaa al-Din Abdallah said in June. His trial will be a test of how serious authorities are about trying to erase the legacy of his autocratic 30-year rule, marked by widespread violence, economic collapse and the secession of South Sudan. Bashir was also charged in May with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters, and prosecutors also want him questioned over suspected money laundering and terrorism financing. On Saturday, Sudan s ruling military council, which took over after Bashir was ousted in April, signed a power-sharing agreement with the main opposition coalition, paving the way for a transitional government and eventual elections. It sets up a sovereign council as the highest authority in the country, but largely delegates executive powers to the cabinet of ministers. Transitional ruled delayed The sovereign council was due to be sworn in on Monday. But the spokesman for the Transitional Military Council, Lieutenant General Shams El Din Kabbashi, said the formation of the new ruling body would be delayed by 48 hours on the request of the opposition coalition. That coalition - the Forces of Freedom and Change - had chosen Aisha Mousa, Siddig Tower, Mohamed Elfaki Suleiman, Hassan Sheikh Idris and Taha Othman Ishaq as its representatives on the council, a coalition source said on Sunday. But the Sudanese Professionals Association, the main protest organiser and one of the most prominent coalition members, said on Monday that Ishaq had declined to take up his post. According to the power-sharing deal, the opposition coalition is allowed to choose five members and the military another five, with the two sides jointly choosing a civilian as an eleventh member. On Saturday Kabbashi told Sky News Arabia that military council head Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, his deputy General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Lieutenant General Yasser Al-Atta will serve as three of the five military members. The military council has yet to announce the other two members, but Kabbashi said on Monday that the eleventh member had been agreed by both sides. Stability in Sudan, which has been grappling with an economic crisis, is seen as crucial for a volatile region struggling with conflict and insurgencies from the Horn of Africa to Egypt and Libya.

Sudan s ousted president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday arrived amid heavy security at the courthouse in the capital Khartoum where he is facing corruption charges, a Reuters witness said. Bashir is charged with illicit possession of foreign currency and accepting gifts in an unofficial manner, prosecutor Alaa al-Din Abdallah said in June. His trial will be a test of how serious authorities are about trying to erase the legacy of his autocratic 30-year rule, marked by widespread violence, economic collapse and the secession of South Sudan. Bashir was also charged in May with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters, and prosecutors also want him questioned over suspected money laundering and terrorism financing. On Saturday, Sudan s ruling military council, which took over after Bashir was ousted in April, signed a power-sharing agreement with the main opposition coalition, paving the way for a transitional government and eventual elections. It sets up a sovereign council as the highest authority in the country, but largely delegates executive powers to the cabinet of ministers. Transitional ruled delayed The sovereign council was due to be sworn in on Monday. But the spokesman for the Transitional Military Council, Lieutenant General Shams El Din Kabbashi, said the formation of the new ruling body would be delayed by 48 hours on the request of the opposition coalition. That coalition - the Forces of Freedom and Change - had chosen Aisha Mousa, Siddig Tower, Mohamed Elfaki Suleiman, Hassan Sheikh Idris and Taha Othman Ishaq as its representatives on the council, a coalition source said on Sunday. But the Sudanese Professionals Association, the main protest organiser and one of the most prominent coalition members, said on Monday that Ishaq had declined to take up his post. According to the power-sharing deal, the opposition coalition is allowed to choose five members and the military another five, with the two sides jointly choosing a civilian as an eleventh member. On Saturday Kabbashi told Sky News Arabia that military council head Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, his deputy General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Lieutenant General Yasser Al-Atta will serve as three of the five military members. The military council has yet to announce the other two members, but Kabbashi said on Monday that the eleventh member had been agreed by both sides. Stability in Sudan, which has been grappling with an economic crisis, is seen as crucial for a volatile region struggling with conflict and insurgencies from the Horn of Africa to Egypt and Libya.

Israel said it opened fire on armed Palestinians on Gaza s border overnight and Hamas s health ministry reported three dead Sunday, the latest in a series of incidents along the tense barrier. Israel s tank and helicopter fire came after Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired three rockets at Israel late Saturday, the army said, the second such attack in 24 hours. Two rockets were intercepted by Israel s air defence systems, it said, without specifying what happened to the third. Police reported no casualties in Israel, but said a rocket fragment fell on a house in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Israeli medics said they had treated six people, including two with minor injuries sustained while running to bomb shelters and four others with panic attacks. Hours later, Israel s army said "troops spotted a number of armed suspects adjacent to the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip". It added that an "attack helicopter and a tank fired towards them". The health ministry in the Palestinian enclave run by Islamist movement Hamas reported three dead and said another Palestinian was hospitalised following the incident north of Beit Lahia. It identified those killed as Mahmoud al-Walayda, 24, Mohammed Abu Namus, 27, and Mohammed Samir al-Taramsi, 26. A series of incidents along the Gaza border have tested a fragile truce between Hamas and Israel in recent days. On Friday night, a rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel and was intercepted by missile defence systems. Israel said in response it carried out strikes on two Hamas "underground targets" in the northern and central Gaza Strip, without providing further details. A Gaza security source reported three Israeli strikes on a Hamas observation post, an unidentified target near Gaza City and one that hit open ground in the central part of the enclave. No casualties were reported. - Netanyahu under pressure - The rocket fire and retaliation came after a series of other incidents along the Gaza border since the start of the month. A week ago, a Palestinian shot at Israeli soldiers along the frontier and was killed when troops returned fire, the army and Hamas s health ministry said. A day before that, Israel s army said its troops shot dead four heavily armed Palestinians on the border, adding one had managed to cross and throw a grenade at soldiers. Earlier on August 1, a Palestinian seeking to avenge his brother s death by Israeli fire entered Israel from Gaza and opened fire on soldiers, the army said. Three Israeli soldiers were wounded and the Palestinian was killed, the army said. Regular protests and clashes erupted along the border of the blockaded Gaza Strip in March 2018. At least 305 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza or the border area since then, the majority during demonstrations and clashes. Seven Israelis have also been killed in Gaza-related violence over the same period. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is widely seen as wanting to avoid an escalation in the Gaza Strip before September 17 elections, but he also faces heavy political pressure to respond firmly. Israel launched three miltiary offensives on Gaza since 2008. *This story was edited by Ahram Online.

Chinese paramilitary forces conducted exercises across the border from Hong Kong on Thursday, raising fears that Beijing may be preparing to act against mass demonstrations in the Asian financial hub it has described as "near terrorism". Hundreds of members of the People s Armed Police could be seen at a Shenzhen sports stadium where parking lots were filled by more than 100 dark-painted paramilitary vehicles, prompting U.S. concerns they could be used to break up protests across the border in Hong Kong. China reiterated on Wednesday that Hong Kong s protests were "near terrorism" as more street clashes followed ugly and chaotic scenes at the airport two days ago, when protesters set upon two men they suspected of being government sympathisers. Seventeen people were arrested on Wednesday, bringing the total number detained since June to 748, police told a news conference, adding that police stations have been surrounded and attacked 76 times during the crisis. Police tactics are toughening after 10 weeks of increasingly violent confrontations between police and protesters have plunged Hong Kong into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997. The protests represent one of the biggest populist challenges for Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012 and show no immediate signs of abating. U.S. President Donald Trump tied a U.S.-China trade deal to Beijing resolving the unrest "humanely", and suggested he was willing to meet Xi to discuss the crisis. "I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi (Jinping) wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it. Personal meeting?" Trump said on Twitter. The U.S. State Department said it was deeply concerned over reports that Chinese police forces were gathering near the border with Hong Kong and urged the city s government to respect freedom of speech. The department also issued a travel advisory urging U.S. citizens to exercise caution when visiting Hong Kong. China has frequently warned against what it regards as outside interference in an internal issue. Other foreign governments have urged calm. France called on Hong Kong officials to renew talks with protesters, while Canada said China should handle the protests with tact. The latest protests have far exceeded the scope of those during the pro-democracy "Occupy" movement that brought parts of the city to a standstill over three months in 2014. A leader of those protests, law professor Benny Tai, was granted bail on Thursday after being jailed for two months for public nuisance offences relating to the 2014 demonstrations. Tai said he was very touched by the sacrifices people had made to defend the city s core values. "The golden era of Hong Kong is yet to come, and I believe the time is not too far away," said Tai, whose appeal remains pending. RECESSION FEARS Hong Kong s airport resumed normal operations on Thursday after activists forced the cancellation of nearly 1,000 flights this week, the airport authority said, but security remained tight. Protesters expressed remorse after a peaceful sit-in turned violent this week in one of the world s busiest airports. It was not yet clear whether the clashes had eroded the broad support the movement has so far attracted in Hong Kong and despite adding to the city s faltering economy. The protests could push Hong Kong into a recession, research firm Capital Economics said, and risked "an even worse outcome if a further escalation triggers capital flight". Hong Kong s property market, one of the world s most expensive, would be hit hard in that scenario, it added. Financial Secretary Paul Chan unveiled a series of measures worth HK$19.1 billion ($2.44 billion) on Thursday to tackle economic headwinds, but he said it was not related to political pressure from the protests. Business and citizens groups have posting full-page newspaper advertisements that denounce the violence and back Hong Kong s government. The Chinese Securities Association of Hong Kong said the city s reputation would be seriously damaged if the unrest did not stop soon. The head of Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment , Lui Che-woo, urged talks to restore harmony. The protests have affected the neighbouring Chinese territory of Macau, with some visitors avoiding the world s biggest gambling hub amid transport disruptions and safety concerns. Protests were planned across several districts of Hong Kong from Thursday, including a teachers rally, and one organised by animal lovers upset that their pets were being tear-gassed. The Civil Human Rights Front, which organised million-strong marches in June, set another protest for Sunday. The protesters have five demands, including the complete withdrawal of a now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent for trial in mainland Chinese courts. Opposition to the extradition bill has developed into wider concerns about the erosion of freedoms guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" formula put in place after Hong Kong s return to Chinese rule in 1997. The protesters also want authorities to stop referring to their actions as "rioting", charges against detainees dropped, a resumption of political reforms and an independent inquiry into police actions during the unrest. ($1 = 7.8401 Hong Kong dollars).

Syrian government forces on Wednesday closed in on a rebel-held town in Idlib that was bombed with sarin in 2017, sources on both sides said, building on their Russian-backed gains since the collapse of a ceasefire this month. The advance towards Khan Sheikhoun threatens to encircle the last remaining pocket of rebel-held territory in neighbouring Hama province, including the towns of Morek, Kafr Zeita and Latamneh. Russian-backed Syrian government forces seized new positions from rebels to the west of the town of Khan Sheihkoun, rebel sources and state media said. A rebel commander said the town, in opposition hands since 2014, was in "great danger". Government forces were now 4 km (2.5 miles) from Khan Sheikhoun, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said. The sarin gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun in 2017 killed dozens of people and prompted President Donald Trump to order a missile strike against the Syrian air base from where the United States said the attack had been launched. An investigation conducted by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the Syrian government was responsible for releasing sarin on the town on April 4, 2017. Damascus denies using such weapons. The northwestern Idlib region is part of the last major stronghold of the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. The rebels that control it include the powerful jihadist group Tahrir al-Sham and Turkey-backed factions. Assad s side had struggled to make any gains in the area in an offensive that got under way in late April. But since the collapse of a brief ceasefire this month, it has managed to take several significant positions, including the town of al-Habeet on Saturday. The humanitarian adviser to the U.N. Special Envoy for Syria said the new surge in violence in the northwest threatened the lives of millions after more than 500 civilians were killed since late April.

Flights leaving Hong Kong were disrupted for a second day on Tuesday, plunging the former British colony deeper into turmoil as its stockmarket fell to a seven-month low, and its leader said it had been pushed into a state of "panic and chaos". The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also urged Hong Kong to exercise restraint and investigate evidence of its forces firing tear gas at protesters in ways banned under international law.

Twenty-one individuals have submitted their applications as candidates in early presidential elections in Tunisia, though as the deadline for submitting applications approaches tomorrow the country’s heavyweights are waiting for the last minute to make their decisions known. The Islamist Ennahda Movement, which won the country’s first free legislative elections in 2011 after the ouster of former president Zein Al-Abidine bin Ali, indicated that it might field a candidate, but up until Al-Ahram Weekly went to press its shura council, or executive committee, had not yet resolved the issue. In a recent interview with the US channel Bloomberg, Ennahda’s leader Rachid Ghannouchi, 78, said he or another senior member might seek the presidency if a power-sharing deal with the current prime minister could not be reached. Tunisian premier Youssef Chahed is expected to announce his presidential bid soon. “We’re on the verge of talks with Chahed. If we find a consensus, that would be good,” Ghannouchi said. “If we don’t find a consensus, there will be a candidate,” whom he said could be either him or Ennahda’s Vice President Abdel-Fattah Mourou. “One can be a prime minister and another president, and then there is the parliament,” he said, describing three leadership roles that could be shared. Ennahda could make the decision as early as Saturday, he told Bloomberg. The once-banned Islamist Movement formed the Ennahda Party following Tunisia’s revolution which triggered the Arab Spring. Eight years later, Tunisia remains the only Arab country that has survived the political turmoil that has engulfed Libya, Egypt and Syria following their uprisings. It is also the only Arab country where the Islamist movements are part of the political process and have ministers in the government. Following the 2013-2014 political crisis in Tunisia where secular fears of the Islamisation of the state were exacerbated following the assassination of two secular politicians, Ennahda stepped down after a new constitution was implemented in 2014. In the October 2014 general elections, Ennahda came in second with 27.79 per cent of the vote, forming a coalition government with Nidaa Tunis, the largest secular party. But it did not offer or endorse a candidate in the November 2014 presidential elections. Nidaa Tunis’ leader Beji Caid Essebsi, who won the presidential elections, died at the age of 92 last month. He had said that he was not planning to run for a second term in the scheduled November 2019 presidential elections. His death led to the advance of the election day to mid-September. Former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki said he was considering running for the presidency for the second time based on his party’s nomination. “My party has decided to nominate me for the presidency, and I am in the last stages of discussion. I will announce my final decision on Wednesday,” Marzouki said on Monday in statements reported by the Tunisian radio station Mosaïque FM. Tunisia’s Independent Higher Authority for Elections (ISIE) announced that 21 candidates have submitted their applications thus far. The campaigns are scheduled to run from 2 to 13 September, with the preliminary results announced two days after the polls. Tunisia’s electoral law stipulates that a candidate must receive 10 recommendations from MPs, or 40 from mayors, or 10,000 from the voters in at least 10 constituencies, in order to be considered. Should Ennahda field a candidate in the elections, it will be a turning point in the North African country’s political landscape and will likely antagonise other Arab countries where Islamist movements are either banned or designated as terrorist groups. In the Bloomberg interview, Ghannouchi attempted to quell such fears. “We’ve exited the concept of Political Islam. Islam here is tied to freedoms. Whatever contradicts freedom is not Islamic. And Islam is tied to the nation state. We do not strive for a country that represents all Muslims, but only one that represents all Tunisians,” he said. “I always tell our friends in Arab countries that the Tunisian revolution is not an export commodity,” Ghannouchi said. “It is a commodity for domestic consumption. We don’t export revolution. We export olive oil.” *A version of this article appears in print in the 8 August, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Tunisia gears up for early elections

Israeli police fired sound grenades to disperse Palestinians during confrontations on Sunday outside Jerusalem s al-Aqsa mosque where tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers gathered for the Eid al-Adha holiday, witnesses said. A Palestinian ambulance service said that at least 14 Palestinians were taken to hospitals for treatment. Israel s Kan public radio said four police officers were injured. Facing off with police in the packed compound outside Islam s third-holiest site, Palestinians chanted "With our soul and blood we will redeem you, Aqsa". Scuffles ensued and the crowd fled as the sound grenades exploded and smoke wafted through the compound, witnesses said. Revered by Jews as Temple Mount, the site of two biblical Jewish temples, and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, the area is one of the most sensitive sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tensions had mounted at the flashpoint complex at the start of Eid al-Adha as the holiday overlapped this year with the Jewish fast day of Tisha B Av, amid calls by Jewish nationalist and religious politicians for Jews to visit the holy compound. In a statement, police said they had deployed forces at the site in anticipation of disturbances and "dispersed rioters". It put the number of Muslim worshippers at the site at some 60,000. 1 Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, accused Israel of provoking religious and political tension. "The storming of al-Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli occupation forces this Eid morning is an act of recklessness and aggression," she said in a statement. The compound is situated in a part of Jerusalem captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that has not been recognised internationally. In an effort to avoid friction at the site, police barred the entry of non-Muslim visitors, including Jews, before the clashes erupted. After the confrontations died down, Jerusalem District Police Chief Doron Yedid said on Kan radio that he had lifted the ban. Jewish visitors then entered the area under heavy police guard and no serious violence was reported. Eid al-Adha commemorates God s testing of Abraham s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son. Tisha B Av marks the destruction of the two temples.

The U.S. maritime agency has told U.S.-flagged commercial vessels they must send transit plans in advance to American and British naval authorities if they intend to sail in Gulf waters following a number of incidents over tankers involving Iran. The seizure of commercial vessels and attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz have unsettled shipping lanes that link Middle Eastern oil producers to global markets. The United States, which has increased its military forces in the region, has blamed Iran for blasts on several tankers near the Strait, a charge Tehran denies. "Heightened military activity and increased political tensions in this region continue to pose serious threats to commercial vessels," the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) said in an advisory on Wednesday. Ships should also alert the U.S. Navy s Fifth Fleet and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations in the event of any incident or suspicious activity. It warned they could face interference to their global positioning systems (GPS). Britain said on Monday it was joining the United States in a maritime security mission in the Gulf to protect merchant vessels after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker. MARAD said in at least two incidents involving commercial vessels and Iran since May 2019 ships had reported interference with their GPS and "spoofed" communications from unknown entities falsely claiming to be U.S. or other warships. Traffic through the Strait has become the focus for a standoff between Iran and the United States after President Donald Trump last year quit a 2015 nuclear pact and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. Iran says the responsibility of securing these waters lies with Tehran and other countries in the region. Britain s P&O Cruises said it had cancelled cruises around Dubai and the Gulf because of the increased tensions.

Syrian state-run media say government forces have captured a northwestern village and are getting closer to the town of Kfar Zeita, which has been held by insurgents since 2012. The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said on Wednesday that troops captured Arbaeen the night before, following intense clashes with al-Qaida-linked militants. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, confirmed that Arbaeen was taken, adding that ``regime forces are at the gates of Kfar Zeita. Kfar Zeita is one of the largest towns in the northern parts of Hama province. It lies on the edge of Idlib, the last remaining major rebel stronghold in the country. On Monday, the Syrian army announced it s resuming an offensive on the rebel-held northwest, accusing insurgents of violating the latest truce there.

The United States warned Tuesday that any unilateral offensive by Turkey to remove a Kurdish militia in Syria would be "unacceptable" and vowed to step up talks to prevent such action. "Clearly we believe any unilateral action by them would be unacceptable," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters in Tokyo on a trip through Asia. "And so what we are trying to do now is work out with them an arrangement to address their concerns and I am hopeful we will get there... what we are trying to do is prevent unilateral incursions," said Esper. Esper s comments came two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to launch an operation in northern Syria east of the Euphrates River against the US-backed Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara views as a terrorist group. Last-ditch talks are ongoing between US defence officials and their Turkish counterparts aimed at creating a "safe zone" in northern Syria to keep the YPG away from Turkey s border. Washington has supported the YPG as the main fighting force against the Islamic State group in Syria. But Ankara sees it as an offshoot of the Kurdish PKK, which has fought a bloody separatist insurgency inside Turkey for the past 35 years. Turkey has so far been unimpressed with the details of the 30-kilometre (18-mile) US "safe zone" plan in Syria and has renewed threats to launch a cross-border offensive if the talks fail to reach a "satisfactory" conclusion. "We can only be patient for so long. That patience will come to an end," Erdogan said on Sunday. Turkish media has regularly shown images in recent weeks of military convoys heading for the border area, carrying equipment and fighting units. Turkey has twice carried out unilateral offensives into northern Syria against the Islamic State group and YPG, in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Aldar Khalil, a top Kurdish political official in northeast Syria, told AFP Monday that "Erdogan is serious and will embark on an attack at the first opportunity" against Kurdish fighters

India on Monday revoked the special status of Kashmir, the Himalayan region that has long been a flashpoint in ties with neighbouring Pakistan, as it moves to fully integrate its only Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country. In the most far-reaching political move in one of the world s most militarised regions in nearly seven decades, India said it would scrap a constitutional provision that allows its state of Jammu and Kashmir to make its own laws. "The entire constitution will be applicable to Jammu and Kashmir," Interior Minister Amit Shah told parliament, as opposition lawmakers voiced loud protests against the repeal. The government also lifted a ban on property purchases by non-residents, opening the way for Indians to invest and settle there, just as they can elsewhere in India, although the measure is likely to provoke a backlash in the region. Pakistan, which also claims Kashmir, said it strongly condemned the decision, which is bound to further strain ties between the nuclear-armed rivals. "As the party to this international dispute, Pakistan will exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps," its foreign ministry said in a statement. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, convulsed by a nearly 30-year armed revolt in which tens of thousands of people have died, with hundreds of thousands of Indian troops deployed to quell it. India blames that rebellion on Pakistan, which denies the accusation, saying that it backs the right to self-determination for Kashmir. There were no immediate details of Kashmiris reaction to the decisions by New Delhi. Hours earlier the Indian government launched a security crackdown in the region, arresting regional leaders and suspending telephone and internet services and restricting public movement in the main city of Srinagar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had pushed for radical political change in Kashmir even before he won re-election in May, saying its laws hindered integration with the rest of India. "Politically, it s advantage BJP," said Happymon Jacob, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in the Indian capital. "The scrapping of Article 370 of the constitution is likely to set off a slew of political, constitutional and legal battles, not to speak of the battles on the streets of Kashmir." Muscular approach Monday s move reflects Modi s muscular approach to national security. In February, he ordered war planes into Pakistan after a militant group based there claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a military convoy in Kashmir. That step, in turn, prompted a retaliatory raid by Pakistan. Introduced decades ago, the constitutional provisions reserved government jobs and college places for Kashmir s residents, among other limits aiming to keep people from other parts of the country from overrunning the state. The government has also decided to split the state into two federal territories, one formed by Jammu and Kashmir, and the other consisting of the enclave of Ladakh, citing internal security considerations. "Today marks the darkest day in Indian democracy," said one of the leaders placed under house arrest, Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. "It will have catastrophic consequences for the subcontinent," she said in a post on Twitter. India s interior ministry ordered all states to put security forces on "maximum alert" to maintain public order and quash the spread of any rumours. Ram Madhav, general secretary of Modi s BJP, hailed the government s actions as ushering in a "glorious day". In Modi s western home state of Gujarat, people shouted slogans of support on the streets. In Pakistani-controlled areas of the region, however, there was anger at India, with protests extending to the capital, Islamabad and the southern commercial centre of Karachi. In Muzaffarabad, 45 km (28 miles) from the two countries contested border, dozens of protesters held black flags and burnt car tyres, chanting "Down with India". Tension had risen in Kashmir since Friday, when Indian officials issued an alert over possible militant attacks by Pakistan-based groups. Pakistan rejected those assertions, but thousands of alarmed Indians left the region over the weekend.