Tunisia retrieves 41 drowned migrants as death toll soars

TUNIS: The Coast Guard has retrieved 41 bodies from Tunisian waters, a national guard official said on Friday, raising the number of victims of migrant shipwrecks off the country’s coast to 210 in 10 days.

The bodies were in a decomposed state, suggesting they had been in the water for several days, said Houssem Eddine Jebabli.

The cumulative total of fatalities was unprecedented over such a short period, he said.

Kalizma guards accused of firing at Yemeni naval patrol; yacht manager claims they were attacked

DUBAI: Armed private guards aboard a famous yacht once owned by the late Welsh actor Richard Burton fired on approaching ships on Friday in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, in an intense gunfight. The authorities said the guards mistakenly opened fire on Yemeni Coast Guard members but the ship’s manager insisted they shot at pirates.

Sudan’s UK envoy blames Rapid Support Forces for bloodshed

LONDON: Sudan’s representative to the UK has put the blame for the violence enveloping his country squarely in the lap of the Rapid Support Forces, demanding that the paramilitary group lay down its weapons.

Charge d’Affaires Khalid Mohamed Ali Hassan told Arab News that the RSF needs to accept a swift reintegration into the Sudanese Armed Forces and take responsibility for the bloodshed.

US confiscates Iran oil cargo on tanker amid Tehran tensions

WASHINGTON: The US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in recent days in a sanctions enforcement operation, three sources said, and days later Iran seized another oil-laden tanker in retaliation, according to a maritime security firm.
As oil markets remain jittery, the cargo seizure is the latest escalation between Washington and Tehran after years of sanctions pressure by the US over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran does not recognize the sanctions, and its oil exports have been rising.

European judges quiz aide to Lebanon central bank chief

BEIRUT: A European judicial delegation on Friday completed its second hearing with Marianne Hoayek, assistant to the governor of Lebanon’s central bank.

Hoayek is being questioned as a suspect in a money laundering case involving European bank accounts belonging to Gov. Riad Salameh and his brother Raja Salameh.

The EU judicial delegation also questioned Madeleine Shaheen, assistant to Marwan Kheireddine, chairman of Al-Mawarid Bank.

The delegation is led by French judge Aude Buresi, and includes a Munich public prosecutor and investigators from Luxembourg.