Sullivan will be the highest-ranking Biden administration official to visit Saudi Arabia. Besides seeing the crown prince, often referred to by his initials, MBS, Sullivan is expected to meet with deputy defense minster Khalid bin Salman, a brother to the crown prince, according to two senior administration officials. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, entered the war alongside Yemen’s internationally recognized government in March 2015. The US sold bombs and fighter jets to Saudi Arabia that the kingdom later used in strikes on Yemen that also killed civilians. Sullivan’s visit to Saudi Arabia also comes as the administration is looking for ways to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal.

The Ethiopian ambassador to Egypt, Markos Tekle Rike, announced that his country will close its embassy in Egypt due to “the economic situation in his country” for three to six months. In statements to the BBC on Sunday, Rike explained that the closure has nothing to do with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are at odds over GERD. Egypt and Sudan say they want a legally binding agreement, while Ethiopia says any pact should be advisory. Negotiations over the dam between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan have stalled for years, with the three parties ultimately failing to reach any agreements.

The farmers have renewed their protests with calls for a nationwide strike on the anniversary of the legislation’s passage. Waving colorful flags and distributing free food, hundreds of farmers gathered Monday at one of the protest sites on the edges of the capital, New Delhi. Mohini Kaur, a 61-year-old New Delhi resident traveled to the protest site to show her support for the farmers. Along New Delhi’s southwest and eastern fringes, protesting farmers crowded highways, choking traffic and cutting off access from the capital to neighboring states. While the farmers’ protest movement has been largely peaceful, demonstrators in January broke through police barricades to storm the historic Red Fort in the capital’s center.

Who gets the job looks likely to depend on the decision of the prospective junior partners, the environmentalist Greens and the business-friendly Free Democrats — parties that traditionally belong to rival ideological camps. The Greens traditionally lean toward the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats toward the Union, but neither ruled out going the other way on Sunday night. Final official results gave the Social Democrats 25.7% of the vote and the Union 24.1%. The Union — made up of Laschet’s Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister, the Christian Social Union — had never previously polled below 31% in a national parliamentary election. The Social Democrats took 206 seats, the Union 196, the Greens 118, the Free Democrats 92, Alternative for Germany 83 and the Left Party 39.

In Iraq, electricity is a potent symbol of endemic corruption, rooted in the country’s sectarian power-sharing system that allows political elites to use patronage networks to consolidate power. The Associated Press spoke to a dozen former and current ministry officials and company contractors. Contractors said intimidation is standard operating procedure in the Electricity Ministry. A bastion of the Sadrist Movement, Al-Sadr’s portrait hangs in almost every home. The parties that came before the Sadrist Movement are to blame, he says, adding that he will vote for a Sadrist candidate.

Other poorer nations, with fledgling vaccination drives at best, also received fewer shots than Britain. This made some rich nations, which already had many vaccines through separate deals with pharmaceutical firms, eligible for COVAX doses alongside countries with no vaccines at all. It has invested 71 million pounds ($97 million) in COVAX, which in theory allows it to buy up to 27 million doses, plus this summer began donating up to nine million shots, some via COVAX. Yet within that group it was still assigning vaccines according to the population sizes, rather than their total vaccination coverage. The UAE passed on its March allocation, Gavi said.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered work be done to properly establish the electrical infrastructure for the New Delta giant agricultural project, in order to prepare for future increase in electrical loads brought on by expanded development. Sisi made the order on Saturday in a meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, and Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker. The Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy presented electrical supply of the giant agricultural project New Delta with a total area of 2.2 million feddans, and efforts to connect it to the national grid. Sisi also ordered to continue national plans to enhance the renewable energy and maximize its value to diversify the sources of energy supply on which the development process in Egypt depends. The meeting also followed-up electrical supply work for the National Project for the Development of Sinai, which seeks to contribute to the formation of integrated residential and urban communities in Sinai.

NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) – The head of Libya’s Presidency Council said on Saturday he would urge candidates in elections proposed for December not to take part unless there was consensus on the vote’s legal framework. However, he added: “Not having a proper vision towards this election, (not having) this kind of consensus, is by itself a risk”. CONTROVERSYThe head of the eastern-based parliament, the House of Representatives (HoR), said this month the body had issued a law for a presidential election. “This is a constitutional path which is the main responsibility of the parliament and the High State Council,” he said. He said the Presidency Council would step in only if the other bodies – the HoR, the HSC, the U.N. and its dialogue forum – were unable to resolve a legal framework.

“Our lives are at risk — Nigerian students, especially in Kaduna state where we are,” the 24-year-old said. They fear pursuing an education in Nigeria, and they are now relying on the help of a school committee overseeing their application process for overseas education. The education of up to 1.3 million Nigerian children has been affected because of the school abductions, he said. The Kaduna school and many other schools in at least four states remain closed because of insecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated those numbers, according to Save The Children Nigeria, which said 46 million Nigerian students have been affected by school closures as a result of the pandemic.

GAZA, Sept 26 (Reuters) – The reconstruction of homes in Gaza that were destroyed or damaged in the May conflict between Israel and Hamas will begin in the first week of October using aid from Qatar, a senior Palestinian housing official said on Sunday. Gaza’s Hamas-run government says Israeli air strikes destroyed about 2,200 homes in the enclave during the 11-day conflict and damaged 37,000 others. Some homes in Israel were damaged by rockets launched by Islamist organisation Hamas and other Gaza militant groups. About 1,800 destroyed or damaged homes will be rebuilt in the first phase of work, according to Naji Sarhan, Gaza’s deputy minister for housing and public works. Gaza officials estimate it will take $479 million to rebuild homes and infrastructure damaged in the May fighting.

The spike in demand — expected following last week’s federal recommendation on booster shots — would be the first significant jump in months. “I hope that we have the level of interest in the booster … that we need more vaccines,” Colorado Gov. While most vaccines can stay on the shelf unopened for months, once a vial is opened the clock starts ticking. Vaccines are only usable for six to 12 hours, depending on the manufacturer, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They don’t come in nice, tidy individual single-serving packages.”State health officials said they have tried to request only what health care providers and pharmacies expect to need from the federal supply.

Meteorologists predict moderately hot weather on Monday during the day over Greater Cairo, the Delta, and northern Upper Egypt. The weather will be milder along the North Coast and warmer in South Sinai and southern Upper Egypt. Maximum temperatures for the following cities are:Alexandria: 28CCairo: 30CHurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh: 34CQena and Luxor: 35CAswan: 37CActive wind is expected on the northern coasts, South Sinai, and Upper Egypt. Light fog will linger in the morning on some roads leading to Greater Cairo, the Delta, and the North Coast. Waves in the Mediterranean Sea will be moderate, ranging between 1.5 and 2.25 meters in height with northeastern surface winds, while waves in the Red Sea will be rough, ranging between 2.25 and 3.25 meters in height with northwestern surface winds.

Libya’s Minister of Economic Affairs Salama al-Ghwail announced the signing of a protocol between the Holding Company for EgyptAir and Libya’s Afriqiyah Airways for cooperation in civil aviation security. The protocol grants these Egyptian experts wide powers to re-inspect luggage, bags, plane meals and freight parcels, and to give enforceable instructions to the interests of Libyan aviation in regards to security matters. Egypt allowed the landing of Libyan planes at Cairo International Airport after a five-year ban, as flights were directed exclusively to Borg al-Arab Airport in Alexandria. The Libyan government announced earlier in September that the Civil Aviation Authority in both Egypt and Libya agreed to work towards returning direct flights between the airports of Mitiga, Misrata, and Benina to Cairo International Airport, starting September 30. Egypt and Libya had signed more than 14 economic agreements and memoranda of understanding in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, with an initial value exceeding billions of dollars.

The Taliban wrote to the United Nations requesting to address the U.N. General Assembly meeting of leaders that is underway in New York. “Taliban does not represent the will of the Afghan people,” Afghanistan’s currently accredited ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Nasir Andisha, told The Associated Press. “I think for the world, for the United Nations, it’s time to use this as a leverage,” Andisha said. During that era, the U.N. refused to recognize their government and gave Afghanistan’s seat to the previous, warlord-dominated government. The U.S. has “significant leverage when it comes to the Taliban,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Friday.

Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population on Saturday reported 667 new coronavirus cases, 39 deaths, and 789 recoveries. A total of 300,945 cases have been disclosed in Egypt, alongside 17,149 deaths and 254,060 recoveries. According to World Health Organization data, as of September 14 over 12 million vaccine doses have been administrated in Egypt. Egypt has imported a number of major coronavirus vaccines, including AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, and Johnson & Johnson. Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed announced on Wednesday that Germany donated 2.3 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Egypt.