AMMAN: Jordan’s Eastern Military Zone troops shot down a drug-smuggling drone from Syria on Monday, Jordan News Agency reported. 

An official military source at the General Command of the Jordanian Armed Forces said: “Border Guard forces, in coordination with the military security services and the Anti-Narcotics Department, tracked a drone trying to illegally cross the border from Syria into Jordan, and it was shot down inside Jordanian territory.”

The drone was found to be carrying 2 kg of crystal meth, which was confiscated and turned over to the authorities.

RIYADH: Member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are among the first to respond to calls from international humanitarian for help to enhance food security, either directly or through global organizations and agencies such as the World Food Program and the UN Development Program, according to Jassim Al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

His comments came during a speech on Monday at the fourth annual summit of the European Corporate Council on Africa and the Middle East in Rome.

CAIRO: Nine were killed, including four military personnel, after a civilian plane crashed in Port Sudan airport due to a technical failure, the Sudanese army said on Sunday.

The army added in a statement that a female child survived the crash.

The Antonov plane malfunctioned as it was taking off before crashing, it added.

AMMAN: A new forum to combat drug smuggling from war-ravaged Syria through Jordan to the wealthy Gulf states held its first meeting in Amman on Sunday, the Jordanian foreign ministry said.
The forum was agreed during talks between Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus earlier this month as regional concern mounts over an influx of the banned stimulant captagon from Syria.

WAD MADANI, Sudan: In a war-devastated district of Sudan’s capital, Abbas Mohammed Babiker says he and his family have only been able to eat once a day. Now even that is in doubt, but on Sunday a citizens’ support group issued an urgent appeal for donations to help people like him.

“We only have enough for two more days,” Babiker said from Khartoum North, where residents said at least one person, a local musician, has already died from hunger.