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Qatar and Turkey have announced they agreed to extend a currency swap deal between their central banks, as Ankara’s lira has plunged in value fuelling an economic crisis. According to a joint statement on Tuesday, the two sides “welcomed the signing of the agreement on the extension and amendment of the Turkish lira-Qatari riyal currency exchange arrangement” between their central banks. The announcement came during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Doha, where he met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and discussed enhancing cooperation in various fields includin…

Egypt resumed the opening of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Monday, local media reported. The decision came after a government directive to “help stranded Palestinians” and humanitarian cases in the besieged strip to move on both sides of the border, Al-Shorouk daily reported. The crossing saw notable security presence, Egypt-based Middle East News Agency reported. The reopening of the Rafah crossing will allow the movement of aid and construction materials into Gaza. The crossing was shut down in August, following demonstrations in northern Gaza. It briefly reopened in Novem…

World governments rushed to contain a new, heavily mutated Covid-19 strain Sunday, with borders closing and Australia reporting its first cases of the variant. The variant now known as Omicron has stoked fears that it is highly infectious. Scientists are racing to determine the threat posed by the heavily mutated strain — particularly whether existing vaccines work. Several countries have also announced plans to restrict travel from southern Africa, where it was first detected, including Qatar, the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Netherlands. Israel said on Sunday it would…

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi on Thursday appointed an ambassador to Qatar for the first time in six years. The Yemeni official news agency Saba said that Rajeh Al-Badi, a spokesman for the internationally recognised government, had been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Qatar. He took the oath of office in front of President Hadi in Riyadh on Thursday, according to Saba. The Yemeni capital Sanaa and most of northern Yemen is under the control of Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized Yemeni government operates from exile in Saudi Arabia. Before …