BEIRUT: Interpol has issued an international warrant for a Lebanese man suspected of trafficking stolen antiquities, weeks after he was questioned in Lebanon, judicial officials said Friday.
The Red Notice was unsealed 10 months after a criminal court in New York issued an arrest warrant for Georges Lotfi, 82, charging him with criminal possession of stolen property as well as possessing looted artifacts.

NEW YORK: The UN on Friday warned that the situation in Darfur province is “rapidly spiraling into a humanitarian calamity,” with intercommunal violence that has left hundreds dead in the town of El Geneina town alone threatening to revive ethnic tensions that stoked a two-decade war.

Martin Griffiths, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, has urged warring parties to allow safe and voluntary passage for those who want to flee, as well as unhindered humanitarian aid delivery for the 9 million people in the area who need it.

BEIRUT: At least 125 Syrians were on board a migrant ship that sank off Greece this week, relatives and activists said Friday, as rescuers scoured the waters for hundreds feared missing.
A blind 15-year-old boy and his 28-year-old sister from the southern Daraa province were among those on board, said their uncle, who declined to be named for security reasons.
“We have no trace of them, my nephew is blind and does not know how to swim,” he said by telephone, adding the pair had flown directly from Damascus to Libya.

BEIRUT: A Lebanese tourism chief has called on the country’s political and security leaders to work together in helping create the conditions for a bumper summer season.
Pierre Al-Ashkar, head of the Federation of Tourist Syndicates in Lebanon urged authorities to ease restrictions on movement wherever possible to encourage visitors.
Tourism officials fear security risks and political tensions in Lebanon could discourage holidaymakers.
With the national economy in meltdown, an influx of tourists would provide struggling businesses with a welcome cash injection.

The Jordanian army said on Friday that units on the country’s eastern border shot down a drone carrying weapon parts from Syria.

Border guards, in coordination with other security agencies, spotted the drone and downed it on Jordan’s side of the border, an army statement said.

The drone was found to be carrying weapons parts, the army said, adding that it will continue to deal with “any threat to our borders, and any attempt to destabilize the security of the country and terrorize its people.”