Promoting tourism with mangoes: Festival northeast of Cairo is major draw

CAIRO: The second Ismailia Mango Festival began on Friday in the north-eastern Egyptian governorate.

The opening of the free festival attracted a significant number of visitors, including international tourists. It is taking place alongside the Export Forum — a paid event attended by sponsors, diplomatic and political delegations, merchants, companies, export councils, and exporters.

The festival was organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.



Jordan’s foreign currency reserves stand at $17.5bn, central bank chief says 

AMMAN: Jordan’s foreign exchange reserves total $17.5 billion, enough to cover the country’s imports for over seven months, Adel Sharkas, governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, said on Saturday. 

Speaking during the 8th Jordanian Investors and Businessmen Abroad Conference, Sharkas said that the country’s inflation rate of 2.7 percent recorded in the first seven months of 2023 is expected to remain the same for the rest of the year.



UN says forced to cut Yemen rations, compounding food crisis

DUBAI: More than four million Yemenis will receive less food assistance as a result of funding shortages, compounding one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the UN’s food agency warned Friday.
The World Food Programme said “a deeper funding crisis for its Yemen operations from the end of September onward… will force WFP to make difficult decisions about further cuts to our food assistance programs across the country in the coming months.”


UN suspends services in Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon

BEIRUT: A UN agency on Friday suspended services in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp in protest at the presence of armed fighters in and around its schools and other facilities.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East announced the 24-hour suspension of services at Ain El-Hilweh, saying that it “does not tolerate actions that breach the inviolability and neutrality of its installations.”



Fears for displaced as Sudan war spreads in Darfur

WAD MADANI: Fighting between two rival generals has spread to cities in war-ravaged Sudan’s south, witnesses said Friday, raising concerns for hundreds of thousands who have fled violence in the Darfur region.
The vast western region as well as the capital Khartoum have seen some of the worst bloodshed since fighting erupted on April 15 between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).