AL-MUKALLA: A high school in Houthi-held Sanaa has expelled a student for refusing to recite the militia’s slogan, the student’s father said, a decision that has sparked outrage in Yemen and prompted an overwhelming show of support for the family. 

Farouq Jaber claimed that the principal of an unnamed high school in Sanaa expelled his daughter Taghred for refusing to chant the Houthi slogan before morning lines, even though she was an excellent student.

JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities on Monday advanced a plan to build nearly 500 homes in a new settlement in east Jerusalem that rights groups say will further sever it from the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem and the southern West Bank.
The planned Givat HaShaked settlement is part of a cluster of settlements on the southern edge of east Jerusalem, many of which have already been built up into full-fledged residential neighborhoods. Critics say they further undermine any hopes for a two-state solution.

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has nominated Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi as the country’s next army chief, his office said on Sunday.

The nomination of Halevi, who serves as deputy to outgoing Chief of General Staff Aviv Kohavi, will be discussed by an advisory committee in the coming days before the government gives its approval, Gantz’s office said.

Halevi is due to take up his new position in February next year, the Defense Ministry said, after Kohavi’s term ends.

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s government has denied Houthi allegations about a new restriction on fuel ships passing through the Red Sea Port of Hodeidah, following a fuel shortage in Houthi-controlled areas.

It said it had not imposed restrictions on the movement of such vessels entering the port, now or in the past, accusing the Houthis of inventing the problem to force people to buy fuel from the black market under their control to generate revenue.

BEIRUT: Lebanese activists stepped up their campaign to protect the country’s oil wealth amid efforts to resolve a maritime border dispute with Israel.

Dozens of boats set out on Sunday from the port of Tripoli and ports along the coast escorted by the army toward Ras Al-Naqoura, the southern border point, under the slogan “Lebanon’s Oil Belongs to Lebanon.”

A civil campaign organized the demonstration, with 40 boats taking part.