GENEVA: More than 1,200 children have died of suspected measles and malnutrition in Sudan refugee camps, while many thousands more, including newborns, are at risk of death before year-end, UN agencies said on Tuesday.

More than five months into a conflict between Sudan’s army and paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces, the country’s healthcare sector is on its knees due to direct attacks from the warring parties as well as shortages of staff and medicines, they said.

LONDON: Qatar’s emir on Tuesday branded Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as tantamount to a “21st-century apartheid system in broad daylight.”

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said it was “unacceptable” that the Palestinian people continued “to languish under the yoke and intransigence of Israeli occupation.”

During a general debate on the issue, he noted that concern was growing even among traditional supporters of Israel over its policies.

DERNA: UN agencies warned Monday that Libya’s flood-stricken city of Derna, where thousands were killed a week ago, faces the threat of disease outbreaks that could bring “a second devastating crisis.”
The massive flash flood that has killed over 3,000 people and left thousands more missing came as the war-scarred North African country was lashed by the hurricane-strength Storm Daniel on September 10.

BEIRUT: A Syrian Kurdish armed group attacked an area controlled by pro-Turkish fighters in rebel-held northern Syria on Monday, killing at least 14, a war monitor and a factional leader said.
The Kurdish Afrin Liberation Forces took advantage of factional fighting that broke out after midnight on the outskirts of Al-Bab in Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

NEW YORK CITY: Libya has been mired in conflict, instability and political fragmentation since the eruption of the Arab uprisings in 2011. The latest blow was dealt by a natural disaster, a Mediterranean storm on September 10 night that caused catastrophic flooding in many eastern towns, leaving at least 11,300 people dead and more than 10,000 missing.