AL-MUKALLA: Four Yemeni soldiers were killed and several others injured by roadside bombs in Yemen’s southern province of Abyan after military forces attacked Al-Mafed, Al-Qaeda’s bastion.

Mohammed Al-Naqeeb, a spokesman for the pro-independence Southern Transitional Council, which commands military operations in Abyan, told Arab News that two bombs exploded on Sunday as a convoy of soldiers drove through Omaran valley, an area that once housed Al-Qaeda facilities, killing four soldiers and injuring several others.

RAMALLAH: Palestinian residents of the Shuafat refugee camp and the nearby town of Anata on the outskirts of Jerusalem are facing growing hardship after Israeli military authorities imposed a blockade on the area. 

The crackdown followed a shooting incident at an Israeli army checkpoint on Saturday in which a soldier was killed and two other Israeli security guards were wounded.

At dawn on Sunday, Israeli security forces closed  all the entrances to the refugee camp, the town of Anata, and the suburb of Al-Salam, northeast of Jerusalem.

BAEIRUT: Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said on Sunday that he will be sent a final draft of a proposal to demarcate Lebanon’s maritime border with long-time foe Israel within hours.
US mediator Amos Hochstein has drawn up the final text.
In a statement, the Lebanese presidency said Beirut will study the final text and take “the suitable decision.”

BERLIN: Germany’s foreign minister is calling for European Union entry bans and asset freezes against those responsible for what she described as brutal repression against anti-government protesters in Iran.
The most sustained protests in years against Iran’s theocracy are now in their fourth week. They erupted Sept. 17 after the burial of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who died in the custody of Iran’s feared morality police. Amini had been detained for an alleged violation of strict Islamic dress codes for women.

CAIRO: Tourists from Spain and France are leading an increase in visitors to Egypt from a number of European countries.

The US is also contributing to the growing demand as Luxor benefits from a tourist boom.

Mohamed Othman, head of the Cultural Tourism Marketing Committee at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, told Arab News: “There has been an increase in the tourist traffic coming from a number of European countries, especially Spain and France. Spanish tourism companies are currently doing around 48 trips per month to Luxor.