DUBAI -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Saturday the formation of an Arab force and alliance capable of encountering regional challenges, Al Arabiya TV reported.
"The United States is not going to leave the Middle East region," Pompeo said in an interview with Al Arabiya on Friday. (US-Pompeo-Arab Force)
- - - -
KHARTOUM -- The death toll in Sudan's protests has risen to 24, said Amer Mohamed Ibrahim, head of a Sudanese government fact-finding committee in charge of investigating the recent protests in Sudan on Saturday.
The Attorney General in Sudan Omer Ahmed Mohamed received reports from the head of the higher committee and heads of the states' committees to follow the investigations on the recent protests in Gadarif, Nahral-Neel, White Nile, Khartoum and Northern States, said Ibrahim at a press conference in Khartoum. (Sudan-Protest)
- - - -
GAZA -- Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, warned Israel on Saturday night that if Israel attacks the Gaza Strip, Hamas and other militants in the coastal enclave "will escalate the confrontation with Israel."
Earlier on Saturday, unknown militants fired several rockets from eastern Gaza Strip into Israeli communities in southern Israel. No injuries or damage were reported, according to Israel Radio. (Hamas-Gaza-Israel)
- - - -
HARARE -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Saturday announced fuel price increases of about 240 percent with effect from Sunday.
He said the prices were predicated on the prevailing rate of 1:1 between the U.S. dollar and the surrogate bond note. (Zimbabwe-Fuel Price)
- - - -
ADEN, Yemen -- A new powerful explosion hit the the state-owned oil refinery in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Saturday evening, injuring at least 15 people, a security official told Xinhua.
"Fire that erupted one day ago extended to a new oil tanker and caused a huge explosion that injured more than 15 workers and firefighters inside the oil refinery," the security source said on condition of anonymity. (Yemen-Explosion)
