JORDAN: Thousands of teachers took to the streets on Wednesday demanding the government implement an October 2019 deal which agreed a 50 per cent pay rise to end a month of strike action.

Union spokesman Noureddine Nadim accused the government of “denying the agreement due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent financial crisis.”

The dispute began in September 2019, prompting a crisis after teachers were attacked by security service with scores arrested.

It was called off after the Jordanian King intervened and urged the government to reach a settlement.

EGYPT: Egyptians have protested against the government decision to approve President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s order to send troops to Libya to fight “foreign terrorist groups” there.

The Arabic hashtag “I did not delegate” was launched yesterday in opposition to the move, which many say is being used to shift attention from Mr Sisi’s poor handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Egypt officially has 89,745 coronavirus cases and 4,440 deaths, the highest in the region, but experts believe the real figures to be far higher.

UKRAINE: Gorlovka city mayor Ivan Prikhodko said that the Seversky Donets-Donbass water duct was damaged by Ukrainian shellfire earlier this week, cutting off vital supplies to the region.

Houses and civilian infrastructure also came under fire as Kiev was accused of violating a 2014 ceasefire agreement with the separatist regions of Ukraine.

The Donetsk People’s Republic has described previous attacks on the water supply as war crimes, with the Ukrainian armed forces waging an attempted genocide.

NIGERIA: The five aid workers who were abducted last month in the north-eastern Borno State have been killed, with President Muhammadu Buhari blaming jihadists affiliated to Boko Haram.

The men were working for Action Against Hunger, the International Rescue Committee, Rich International and the country’s State Emergency Management Agency.

At least 8,000 have been killed and more than 200,000 people displaced in Nigeria due to jihadist violence since 2011, according to the International Crisis group.