KARBALA, Iraq: Thousands of young date palms, Iraq’s national symbol, form lines that extend from the edge of the desert near the central city of Karbala and into the horizon.

Iraq’s prized trees are central to a push aimed to preserve a long-threatened ancestral culture, whose fruit historically presented prosperity across the Arab world.

“The date palm is the symbol and pride of Iraq,” says Mohamed Abul-Maali, commercial director at the Fadak date plantation.

KHARTOUM: Sudanese police fired tear gas in the capital Khartoum on Saturday in an attempt to disperse hundreds of pro-democracy protesters demonstrating against coup leader Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, AFP correspondents reported.

Security forces had set up road blocks on bridges crossing the Nile river linking Khartoum to its suburbs, AFP reporters said, to deter protesters who had vowed to take to the streets in large numbers.

AL-MUKALLA: The Iran-backed Houthis said that they would not renew the UN-brokered truce in Yemen, slamming international calls, mainly from US President Joe Biden, to the movement to adhere to the truce and open roads in the besieged city of Taiz.

The movement’s Supreme Political Council blasted the outcomes of Biden’s visit to the region that called them to strengthen the truce, claiming that the calls “affect the sovereignty, security and stability of Yemen,” and pledged not to extend the truce.

CAIRO: The Egyptian and US presidents reiterated, in the Saudi city of Jeddah, their commitment to the strategic dialogue that is co-chaired by Egypt’s foreign minister and his American counterpart.

In a joint statement, the two sides affirmed the continuation of consultations on a wide range of global and regional security challenges. They also discussed strengthening bilateral relations.

CAIRO: Egypt’s Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala Al-Saeed met Bahrain’s Minister of Sustainable Development Nour bint Ali Al-Khulaif at the UN’s headquarters in New York, where they discussed ways to cooperate.

Al-Saeed is representing Egypt at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2022, which is being held under the theme of “Building Back After the Pandemic: Work, Health, and Well-being.”