BEIRUT: A specialist submarine paid for by Lebanese expats living in Australia on Monday located the wreckage of a so-called “Death Boat” which sank off the coast of northern Lebanon in April, killing more than 30 people, mainly women and children.

The remains of those trapped inside the vessel when it capsized on April 23 have been found, authorities said.

GAZA CITY: Israel’s refusal to release two Palestinian prisoners has raised tensions in the Palestinian arena, sparking fears about the possibility of a re-escalation.

The prisoners are Khalil Awawda, who has been on hunger strike for over 150 days, and Islamic Jihad leader Bassam Al-Saadi.

Islamic Jihad agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire during the latest round of fighting in Gaza — with the peace lasting for three days — in exchange for the release of Al-Saadi and Awawda.

IRBIL: Two rival Iranian Kurdish opposition parties based in northern Iraq have announced in a joint statement their reunification 16 years after they split over internal disputes.

Negotiations between the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran and the Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran — both banned in Iran — “led to the party’s reunification,” said the statement issued late on Sunday.

Formed in 1945, the KDPI is the oldest Iranian Kurdish party, but most of its members are based in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

LONDON: The CIA could not find any evidence to support Israel’s claim that six prominent Palestinian rights groups were “terrorist organizations,” intelligence sources told The Guardian. 

Last October, the Israeli government labeled the following groups as terror-related: Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International — Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees.

DUBAI: Summer of 2022 has seen a rash of wildfires, flash flooding, dust storms, and record high temperatures across the planet, which scientists believe are only the latest expressions of man-made climate change.

Experts warn that such extreme weather events will grow in frequency and severity unless the world acts decisively to cut greenhouse gas emissions and ensures that temperatures do not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.