BEIRUT (AP) — Anti-government protests in southern Syria have stretched into a second week, with demonstrators waving the colorful flag of the minority Druze community, burning banners of President Bashar Assad’s government and at one point raiding several offices of his ruling party.

The protests were initially driven by surging inflation and the war-torn country’s spiraling economy but quickly shifted focus, with marchers calling for the fall of the Assad government.

ADEN, Aug 29 (NNN-SABA) – Unknown gunmen kidnapped two foreigners working with the international charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in Yemen’s central province of Marib yesterday, a security official said.

The local security official, who asked to remain anonymous, said, the foreigners held captive by the unknown gunmen are identified as nationals from Germany and Myanmar, both serving under the MSF banner.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Progressive candidate Bernardo Arévalo was confirmed the winner of Guatemala’s presidential election by the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Monday, but the same day another government body ordered his political party suspended.

Arévalo has faced a slew of legal challenges and allegations of irregularities since his unexpected victory over a candidate favored by the country’s conservative elite.

BEIJING, Aug 29 (APP): Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque underlined the role of canals as conduits of commerce, culture and connectivity.

He made these remarks while speaking at the Opening Ceremony of World Canal Cities Forum recently at Yangzhou city in Jiangsu province of China.

During the visit, the ambassador met the local leadership, interacted with various business enterprises, visited Jiangdu district and some key infrastructure and agricultural projects.

RAMALLAH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Monday called on the international community to take necessary measures to stop Israeli violations against the Palestinians in the West Bank.

Ishtaye made the appeal during the weekly meeting of the Palestinian Authority cabinet held in the West Bank city of Ramallah in response to remarks of the far-right Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, according to an official statement.

29 August 2023; MEMO: Sudanese Army Chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has ruled out the possibility of talks with the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, pledging to continue fighting.

DAMASCUS, Aug 29 (NNN-SANA) – Aleppo International Airport, in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, went out of service, as a result of an Israeli attack targeting the airport, early yesterday, the Syrian army said in a statement.

The air attack was carried out at about 4:30 a.m. (0130 GMT), from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the north-western Syrian province of Latakia, according to the statement.

The attack caused material damage to the airport runway, and put it out of service, the statement said without providing further details.

PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — Jeanette Kiokun, the tribal clerk for the Qutekcak Native Tribe in Alaska, doesn’t immediately recognize the shriveled, brown plant she finds on the shore of the Salish Sea or others that were sunburned during the long, hot summer. But a fellow student at a weeklong tribal climate camp does.

They are rosehips, traditionally used in teas and baths by the Skokomish Indian Tribe in Washington state and other tribes.

“It’s getting too hot, too quick,” Alisa Smith Woodruff, a member of the Skokomish tribe, said of the sun-damaged plant.

JERUSALEM, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Saudi authorities on Tuesday for taking care of Israeli passengers whose flight had to make an emergency landing in Jeddah.

Due to a technical malfunction, Air Seychelles HM022, destined for Tel Aviv and carrying 128 Israeli passengers, was forced to land on Monday night in the kingdom, with which Israel doesn't have official ties.

Later, a replacement flight was arranged to fly the passengers to their destination, said the Israeli foreign ministry in a statement.

BELGRADE, August 29. /TASS/: Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has said he is on friendly terms with Russia’s ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko and rejected accusations that he was meeting with the Russian diplomat to report to him.

29 August 2023; MEMO: Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus condemned the attack on a mosque in the Greek Cypriot administration’s city of Limassol.

In a post he published on his social media accounts on Sunday, Kurtulmus conveyed his strong condemnation of the attack on the historic Koprulu Haci Ibrahim Aga mosque.

28 August 2023; MEMO: Israel launched an airstrike against Aleppo International Airport in northern Syria, putting it out of service, according to Syrian state media, reports Anadolu agency.

SANA news agency, citing a military source, said Israeli warplanes fired missiles from over the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal Syrian city of Latakia, and targeted Aleppo International Airport.

The attack caused heavy damage to the airport’s runway and forced it out of service, the source said.