DUBAI: Tobacco use remains a serious health concern in countries across the Middle East and North Africa, which have some of the highest proportions of smokers in the world.

Despite this high prevalence of tobacco use in the region, policies introduced by Saudi authorities appear to have resulted in significant reductions in the number of smokers in the country, coupled with an increase in those seeking help to quit the habit.

BEIRUT: Political observers fear a strike by Lebanon’s public sector employees that started a month ago will turn into civil disobedience if it is not dealt with properly, amid government efforts to address their grievances.

The heads of the administrative units in the Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced that they, too, would join the strike by Monday.

TEHRAN: Two moderate earthquakes rattled Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan on Saturday evening, the country’s state TV reported.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, but the quakes, both after sundown, caused people to rush out and stay on the streets as several aftershocks jolted the area.

CAIRO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will begin a tour of Africa starting with Egypt on Sunday in an effort to build non-Western ties.

Lavrov’s Cairo visit will be followed by trips to Ethiopia, Uganda and Congo.

He will meet with members of the Arab League in the Egyptian capital, and is scheduled to address the Council of the Arab League, according to an announcement.

Lavrov will meet Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and representatives from the organization’s 22 member states.

MANBIJ, Syria: Ghazwan Al-Atman thought he had found refuge in Manbij after years of displacement, but he now fears his family will be uprooted once again as a threatened Turkish onslaught looms over the Syrian town.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has repeatedly vowed to launch a new offensive in northern Syria in what he says is an operation to protect his country from Kurdish militias who have been waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.