AL-MUKALLA, Yemen: Efforts to renew the UN-brokered truce and bring peace to Yemen have been dashed after Omani mediators left Sanaa without any reported progress, and the Iran-backed Houthis threatened to renew the fight if their demands are not met. 

The Omani mediators, who arrived in Sanaa last week, departed the city on Sunday after meeting top Houthi officials and hearing their requests for extending the ceasefire and participating in peace negotiations to end the conflict.

CAIRO: Tribal violence in Sudan’s long-restive region of Darfur killed at least 12 people over the past few days, an aid group said.

The clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the Beleil area in South Darfur province also wounded at least 42 people, said Adam Regal, spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur.

Local authorities said the clashes grew out of an attempt by herdsmen to loot a motorized rickshaw known as a tuk-tuk in the village of Amouri, killing one person.

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu called a vote in parliament on his new government for Thursday Dec. 29, the speaker of the Knesset said on Monday, after almost two months of coalition wrangling.

Netanyahu’s bloc of right-wing and religious parties won a clear victory in parliamentary elections last month, but the veteran leader has had a harder time than expected in finalizing deals with his partners.

CAIRO: Egyptian Minister of Health Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said that the total number of people with diabetes in Egypt who are registered with health insurance has reached 11 million.

Diabetes affects 15 percent of the world’s population, the minister said at a press conference on the diabetes awareness campaign “100 Million Healthy Lives Initiative.”

The minister said Egypt is interested in reaching these patients and providing them with early diagnosis and treatment services.

DUBAI: In the 21st century, English has become the lingua franca of nearly the whole world. In the Gulf, children are often pushed to learn English from a young age, and many speak near-perfect English with barely a hint of an accent. Just Google “English schools in Saudi Arabia,” and you will find yourself drowning in thousands of results.