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Egyptian Gov’t Starts Early Preparations for COP27

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 1, 2021.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 1, 2021.
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Egyptian Gov’t Starts Early Preparations for COP27

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 1, 2021.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 1, 2021.

Egypt has started early preparations to host the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2022 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad held on Wednesday coordination meetings with several ministers to develop an action plan.

They discussed a number of initiatives and implementation mechanisms, in addition to development projects, based on the national strategy for climate change, Fouad explained.

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait suggested organizing a climate finance day, while Minister of Planning Hala al-Saeed proposed opening a network of research centers for climate change across the country.

Fouad explained the general framework of the 2022 event, noting that it will be divided into various sessions to discuss the agenda of the previous conference, the initiatives taken by the host country and the side events to support these initiatives.

The events, on the sidelines of the COP27, will be held in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the minister stated.

Wednesday's meeting further touched on the possibility of implementing a youth program to agree on ambassadors for climate change.

The ministers agreed on the importance of forming a working group in each ministry to follow up on the implementation of the tasks of the technical, logistical and political subcommittees.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly also decided to form and chair a supreme committee of ministers of environment, finance, planning and international cooperation in preparation for the event.

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Arab World

Israel's Katz on Lebanon: to Maintain Control Over Entire Area Up to Litani River

Israeli heavy machinery operates in the southern Lebanese village of Adeisseh, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 30 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli heavy machinery operates in the southern Lebanese village of Adeisseh, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 30 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Israel's Katz on Lebanon: to Maintain Control Over Entire Area Up to Litani River

Israeli heavy machinery operates in the southern Lebanese village of Adeisseh, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 30 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli heavy machinery operates in the southern Lebanese village of Adeisseh, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 30 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

Israel will establish a buffer zone inside southern Lebanon and maintain control over the entire area up to the Litani River once the conflict with Hezbollah ends, Israel's defense minister said on Tuesday.

"At the end of the operation, the IDF would control ⁠the area up to ⁠the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges, while eliminating Radwan forces that infiltrated the area and destroying all weapons there," Israel Katz ⁠said in a statement following a security assessment, calling it a "security zone.”

Radwan forces are an elite military unit of Hezbollah.

Katz said that the more than 600,000 Lebanese residents who have been evacuated northward would be barred from returning south of the Litani ⁠until ⁠the safety of residents in northern Israel is guaranteed.

To that end, "all homes in villages near the border in Lebanon would be destroyed, according to the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza, in order to permanently remove threats near the border to northern residents" in Israel, Katz said.

Arab World

UNRWA Head Seeks Investigation into Killing of Staff in Gaza War

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini attends a press conference on the last day of his mandate at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 31, 2026. (Reuters)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini attends a press conference on the last day of his mandate at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 31, 2026. (Reuters)
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UNRWA Head Seeks Investigation into Killing of Staff in Gaza War

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini attends a press conference on the last day of his mandate at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 31, 2026. (Reuters)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini attends a press conference on the last day of his mandate at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 31, 2026. (Reuters)

Discussions are ‌under way for a UN investigation into the killing of more than 390 employees in the two-year Gaza war, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday, making it the deadliest conflict in the body's history.

"I believe that we need to have a panel – a high-level panel ‌of experts to ‌look into the killing of ‌our ⁠staff," said Philippe Lazzarini, ⁠UNRWA Commissioner-General at a press conference in Geneva on the last day of his term.

The topic has been raised with the office of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and with ⁠member states in New York, he ‌added.

"Part of the ‌reason this has not (been) operationalized yet ‌is there is still an ongoing conflict," ‌he added, referring to Israel's continuing airstrikes in the enclave despite an October ceasefire that ended the Israel-Hamas war.

More than 72,000 Palestinians ‌have been killed since the war in Gaza began in October ⁠2023, ⁠according to local health officials, following an attack on Israel by Hamas-led gunmen in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

Lazzarini, who will be replaced temporarily by Britain's Christian Saunders, warned earlier this month that his organization's viability was in doubt and that any collapse would result in Israel taking over its humanitarian work.

Arab World

Explosion Heard near Iraq's Erbil Airport

People inspect damage at a building whose windows were shattered following air defenses' interception of a projectile or drone over a residential neighborhood in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on March 4, 2026. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)
People inspect damage at a building whose windows were shattered following air defenses' interception of a projectile or drone over a residential neighborhood in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on March 4, 2026. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)
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Explosion Heard near Iraq's Erbil Airport

People inspect damage at a building whose windows were shattered following air defenses' interception of a projectile or drone over a residential neighborhood in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on March 4, 2026. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)
People inspect damage at a building whose windows were shattered following air defenses' interception of a projectile or drone over a residential neighborhood in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on March 4, 2026. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)

An explosion was heard Tuesday morning near the international airport of Erbil, a city in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said.

Erbil is home to a major US consulate complex, while its airport houses military advisers attached to a US-led international anti-ISIS coalition.

Regular drone attacks by pro-Iran armed groups have usually been intercepted by air defenses.