WORLD HIGHLIGHTS

►Iraq

BAGHDAD More than 1,000 Iraqis were rushed to hospital with respiratory ailments yesterday due to a sandstorm, the seventh to hit the country in the past month, state media said.

►Belgium

BRUSSELS Citizens in European Union countries may be able to sue their governments for financial compensation if illegal levels of air pollution damage their health, an adviser to Europe's top court said yesterday.

►Germany

BERLIN Europe's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, the architect of landmark rules to curb the power of US tech giants, called yesterday for a global approach towards Big Tech to prevent companies taking advantage of enforcement gaps.

►US

WASHINGTON The third long-duration team of astronauts launched by Spacex to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA safely departed the orbiting outpost early yesterday to begin their descent back to Earth, capping a sixmonth science mission. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive on Wednesday for COVID-19 and will shift to a virtual work schedule, the State Department said.

►Israel

TEL AVIV Clashes erupted between Israelis and Palestinians at Jerusalem's Al-aqsa mosque compound yesterday, after a 10-day cooling of tensions at the holy site, Israeli police said.

►France

STRASBOURG The European Parliament on Wednesday voted to hand the EU'S police agency new powers to gather and use data, provoking an angry response from privacy activists.

►The Netherlands

THE HAGUE The Dutch consumer watchdog on Wednesday said it had launched a preliminary investigation into Google over its Play store for apps, months after targeting fellow tech giant Apple.

►Tunisia

TUNIS Prosecutors in Tunisia have opened an investigation to determine the authenticity of recorded conversations purported to involve a former top aide criticising President Kais Saied, Tunisian media said on Wednesday.