BASRA: For three centuries, the Al-Siraji Mosque, with its minaret fashioned from weathered bricks and its pinnacle inlaid with blue ceramic tiles, was a distinctive feature of the city of Basra in southern Iraq.
In recent years, it was one of the few tourist attractions in the oil-rich but neglected city, although locals complained that the minaret jutted out into the street, snarling traffic.

DUBAI: Arab youth’s confidence in government is on the slide with less than half (46 percent) saying their voice matters to leadership — a substantial decrease from 2022 (67 percent).

Sunil John, founder and president of ASDA’A BCW, told Arab News: “Over the past five years there has been a significant drop in the percentage of Arab youth who feel their voice matters.”

MANAMA: Bahrain is working steadily to promote the values of peaceful coexistence, the protection of individual rights, and efforts to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, an international forum heard on Tuesday.
Noor Al-Khulaif, Bahrain’s minister of sustainable development, told the UN’s High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development that her country is committed to fast-tracking efforts to achieve the SDGs, under the leadership of King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Bahrain News Agency reported.

DUBAI: Nations worldwide are once again in the throes of coping with record-high temperatures amid an intense summer heatwave, forcing governments in the Middle East, Europe and the Americas to issue health warnings and advise people to remain indoors and stay hydrated.

Several recent studies, including a report by the World Meteorological Organization, have warned that there is a 66 percent chance of exceeding the global temperature threshold of 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels in at least one year between 2023 and 2027.

DUBAI: Iran’s clerical rulers are clamping down on dissent ahead of the anniversary of the death of a young woman in morality police custody, fearing a revival of nationwide protests that rocked the Islamic Republic for months.

Journalists, lawyers, human rights advocates and students have been arrested, summoned or faced other measures in a campaign that one activist described as “instilling fear and intimidation.”