NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s under-secretary-general and high representative for disarmament affairs told the Security Council on Monday that her agency has yet to resolve outstanding issues and declarations by the Syrian regime relating to the elimination of its chemical weapons program and the destruction of stockpiles.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: Israeli aircraft conducted strikes early Tuesday on Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said, and residents reported blasts in the Palestinian enclave.
Witnesses said an explosion hit the top floor of an apartment building in Gaza City and a house in the southern city of Rafah. Palestinian media said several people were injured. There was no immediate confirmation from health authorities.
The airstrikes come as tension boils between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the militant Hamas group.

ABU DHABI: The UAE has sent three planes carrying more than 115 tonnes of medical and food supplies to support people affected by the crisis in Sudan, Emirates News Agency reported. 

Two planes arrived at Port Sudan airport carrying 100 tonnes of medical supplies, including medicine, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, dressings, surgical tape, and endoscopy kits.

The third plane arrived in Chad carrying 15 tonnes of food supplies to help Sudanese refugees.

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday said it is possible to salvage an agreement on reviving its nuclear deal if Western parties, particularly the US, put an end to repeated delays.

It comes five years after the US withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal that gave Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

An agreement “is possible both in term of the technical and political aspects,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said.

Customs authorities at Cairo International Airport in Egypt said they had thwarted multiple attempts to smuggle gold into the country.

In one incident, a passenger who had flown into the city from N’Djamena in Chad was found in possession of more than 29 kg of gold, while another from Al-Ain in the UAE was found with two gold bars weighing a combined 300 grams.

A passenger from the Saudi capital Riyadh was found to be carrying nine gold bars with a combined weight of 500 grams, while a passenger arriving from Jeddah was caught with four gold bars weighing 250 grams.