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Ramadan begins Sunday in Jordan

The holy month of Ramadan begins on Sunday in Jordan, Grand Mufti Abdulkarim Khasawneh announced on Friday.

Khasawneh said that the crescent moon (hilal) of the new lunar month was not spotted in Jordan on Friday, which makes Sunday the first day of Ramadan, during which Muslims observe dawn-to-dusk fasting.

Source: Jordan News Agency

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UN Human Rights Council adopts two resolutions in favor of Palestine

Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad al-Maliki commended,on Friday, an overwhelmingly vote by the UN Human Rights Council in favor of two resolutions on the self-determination of the Palestinian people and the illegality of Israeli settlements.

38 countries voted in favor of the draft resolution “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan”, while five countries abstained, namely Ukraine, Lithuania, Brazil, Cameroon and Honduras. Meantime, four countries voted against the resolution, specifically the United States, the United Kingdom, the Marshall Islands, and Malawi.

41 countries voted in favor of the resolution “The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination”, while 3 countries abstained: Lithuania, Cameroon, and Honduras. Three countries voted against: the United States, the United Kingdom and the Marshall Islands.

He pointed out that the adoption of the resolution on the illegality of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory affirms the need for a boycott of these settlements leading to their immediate dismantlement.

Al-Maliki stressed the need for the international community to ban settlement-manufactured goods, and to stop commercial and military dealings with the Israeli settlement system for its violation of the rules of international law.

Source: Jordan News Agency

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Eight killed as coal mine in Serbia collapses

Eight miners were killed and 18 injured on Friday when a shaft collapsed at a state-owned coal mine in southern Serbia.

The Mining and Energy ministry said the accident at the Soko mine, about 250 kilometres south of Belgrade, happened when coal collapsed in an excavation chamber, leading to “a sudden penetration of methane into the working space.”

There were 49 miners on the rota at the time of the accident, most of them from the nearby town of Aleksinac.

Source: Jordan News Agency

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3 killed, 1 injured in midair collision of S. Korean trainer jets

Three people were killed and one was seriously injured as two trainer fighter jets of the South Korean air force collided in midair and crashed in the southeastern city, Yonhap news agency reported Friday.

Two KT-1 trainer jets collided with each other during a training flight and fell to the ground in Sacheon, around 440 km southeast of the capital Seoul.

Among the four on board the ill-fated jets, three were confirmed dead and one was seriously wounded.

No damage and casualty were reported from private houses near the scene.

The firefighting authorities allegedly dispatched two helicopters, 14 vehicles and 35 personnel to the scene for the rescue operation.

The authorities will investigate the exact cause of the accident.

Source: Jordan News Agency

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Italy ends COVID-19 state of emergency, curbs to be lifted gradually

Italy on Friday began to phase out its COVID-19 restrictions, ending a state of emergency public authorities declared more than two years ago that allowed it to bypass bureaucracy and swiftly impose rules via decrees.

The state of emergency was introduced on Jan. 31, 2020, but Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government announced plans in March to return to normal after deciding not to extend it. It officially ended on Thursday.

“A new phase is beginning … This does not mean that the pandemic is over. There is no ‘off’ button that magically makes the virus disappear,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza told the newspaper la Repubblica.

Source: Jordan News Agency