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Road Accident Leaves 14 Dead in Egypt

People gather at the site where a passenger train derailedin Banha, Qalyubia province, Egypt, Sunday, April 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Fadel Dawood)
People gather at the site where a passenger train derailedin Banha, Qalyubia province, Egypt, Sunday, April 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Fadel Dawood)
    Asharq A-Awsat
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Road Accident Leaves 14 Dead in Egypt

People gather at the site where a passenger train derailedin Banha, Qalyubia province, Egypt, Sunday, April 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Fadel Dawood)
People gather at the site where a passenger train derailedin Banha, Qalyubia province, Egypt, Sunday, April 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Fadel Dawood)

Fourteen people were killed and 25 injured after a public transport bus collided with a heavy transport truck on a desert highway in southwestern Egypt on Wednesday, medical and security sources said.

The accident occurred on Assuit-Kharga highway, around 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Cairo, in New Valley province, the sources said.

Seventeen ambulances were dispatched to the scene to ferry the injured to hospitals, state news agency MENA quoted New Valley governor Mohamed el-Zamlout as saying.

It was not immediately clear how the accident occurred.

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UK Lifts Sanctions on Syrian Central Bank and Petroleum Firms

A general view of the commercial harbor of Syria's coastal city of Tartous, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
A general view of the commercial harbor of Syria's coastal city of Tartous, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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UK Lifts Sanctions on Syrian Central Bank and Petroleum Firms

A general view of the commercial harbor of Syria's coastal city of Tartous, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
A general view of the commercial harbor of Syria's coastal city of Tartous, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)

Britain unfroze the assets of Syria's central bank and 23 other entities including banks and oil companies on Thursday, reversing sanctions imposed during Bashar al-Assad's presidency.

The West is rethinking its approach to Syria after opposition forces led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group ousted Assad as president in December after more than 13 years of civil war.

"We are lifting asset freezes on 24 Syrian entities that were previously used by the Assad regime to fund the oppression of the Syrian people," a foreign office spokesperson said.

"At the same time, sanctions on members of the Assad regime and those involved in the illicit trade in captagon remain in place."

Captagon in an addictive amphetamine-like stimulant widely produced in Syria during Assad's rule.

A notice posted on the British government website said entities including the central bank, the Commercial Bank of Syria and the Agricultural Cooperative Bank had been delisted and were no longer subject to an asset freeze.

Syrian Arab Airlines, Syrian Petroleum Company, Syria Trading Oil Company (SYTROL) and Overseas Petroleum Trading were also among those delisted.

Syria's Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has called repeatedly for the lifting of Western sanctions that were imposed to isolate Assad during the civil war.

Last month, the European Union eased restrictions on the Syrian central bank while keeping in place the sanctions. The US has said its sanctions on the central bank remain in place.

A Syrian government media official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.