GAZA: Palestinians flocked to the beach in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday as students start their summer vacation.
“The sea is our only outlet here in the Gaza Strip,” says 65-year-old Farid Naeem. 
“Last year, coming to the beach was not an option; there was an atmosphere of war,” says young Gazan Ahmed Al-Attar. 
The water looks crystal blue, with no trace of sewage, the yellow sand is clean and the smell in the air is salty and pleasant, also giving beachgoers in Gaza their first experience in years of clean and safe beaches.

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s death toll from tick-borne Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever has increased to 27 this year, according to the latest figures released Saturday by authorities struggling to contain an outbreak.
The latest figure marks a sharp uptick from last month’s toll, when 12 deaths were recorded among the 55 cases registered since the start of the year.
Also known as Congo fever, the disease causes severe bleeding. People usually catch it through contact with the blood of infected animals, according to the World Health Organization.

BEIRUT: Amos Hochstein, the US State Department’s senior advisor for energy security, will visit Lebanon June 13-14 to discuss the country’s energy crisis and underscore Washington’s hope that Lebanon and Israel can reach a decision delimiting their maritime boundary.

The State Department said in a statement that it “welcomes the consultative and open spirit of the parties to reach a final decision, which has the potential to yield greater stability, security, and prosperity for both Lebanon and Israel, as well as for the region.”

ANKARA: Following Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ address to the US Congress last month, long-running tensions between Turkey and Greece are flaring up again.

As both countries simultaneously face an economic downturn with severe inflation, and as they near their election terms in 2023, experts say that tension between them is being increasingly used for domestic purposes.

TUNIS: A coalition of 10 rights groups Friday condemned a decree by Tunisian President Kais Saied firing scores of judges, describing it as a “deep blow to judicial independence.”
The June 1 presidential decree saw Saied award himself the power to fire judges, and he duly sacked 57 of them, further cementing a power grab that began in July last year when he dismissed the government and suspended an elected parliament.