DUBAI, 11 February (IRIN) - CONTENTS LEBANON: Long-term environmental challenges ahead EGYPT: Five million infected with Hepatitis C EGYPT: Teenage girl dies of bird flu IRAQ: Fadhel, Iraq "Stealing is the easiest job in Iraq today" IRAQ: Luana Martiri, Iraq "I discovered I was made pregnant by a rapist" IRAQ: Ethnic tensions in Kirkuk take a dangerous turn IRAQ: Basra fishermen suffer security squeeze and fuel price hike IRAQ: Ibraheem Jaffer, Iraq "Every day the kidnappers said they'd kill me" IRAQ: Children living without limbs lack aid IRAQ: Southern Iraq in danger of slipping into chaos IRAQ-JORDAN: Iraqi asylum seekers in Jordan to increase threefold occ. Palestinian terr.: Israeli lock-down cripples Nablus economy occ. Palestinian terr.: Gaza fighting threatening aid, says UN YEMEN: Humanitarian crisis looms if rebel group not stopped YEMEN: Trafficked children could become terrorists, specialists warn

EGYPT: Five million infected with Hepatitis C

At least five million people in Egypt are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a new committee formed by the country's government to tackle the disease has said. It added that action must be taken now to combat rising mortality.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57544 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Egypt

EGYPT: Teenage girl dies of bird flu

Egyptian health officials confirmed on Tuesday that Egypt's 12th fatal victim of bird flu died on 2 February. The victim was a 17-year-old girl from the rural Fayyoum region, south-west of the capital, Cairo. She is believed to have been infected after coming into contact with sick and dead birds at her home.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57535 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Egypt

IRAQ: Fadhel, Iraq "Stealing is the easiest job in Iraq today"

"I'm an 11-year-old boy who has never been to school - so I can neither read nor write. For the past two years I have been living on the streets of Baghdad, surviving on leftovers that I scavenge from garbage or by stealing from people and shop-lifting.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57561 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Iraq

IRAQ: Luana Martiri, Iraq "I discovered I was made pregnant by a rapist"

"I'm a 22-year-old Christian student in Iraq. Two months ago I was raped by an Iraqi soldier following a raid at my home.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57547 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Iraq

IRAQ: Ethnic tensions in Kirkuk take a dangerous turn

Nearly 500 Arabs took to the streets on Wednesday morning in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, some 290km north of the capital, Baghdad, denouncing a decision by a governmental committee to relocate tens of thousands of mostly Shi'ite Arabs currently living in the city.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57550 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Iraq

IRAQ: Basra fishermen suffer security squeeze and fuel price hike

Fisherman Mazin Jawad, 36, cannot look at his seven children without feelings of shame and guilt overcoming him. Without the income he used to have, he has had to take four of them out of school and taken 'luxuries' such as meat out of their lives.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57531 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Iraq

IRAQ: Ibraheem Jaffer, Iraq "Every day the kidnappers said they'd kill me"

"I'm 10 years old and was born in Baghdad. Two months ago, I was kidnapped and was released three weeks later after my family paid a ransom to the kidnappers.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57306 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Iraq

IRAQ: Children living without limbs lack aid

Fatah Barakat, 10, will never forget getting caught in crossfire between Iraqi militia fighters and US-led forces in Sadr City, a suburb of Baghdad, a year ago. A grenade that exploded near him blew off his right leg. Now, Fatah has a habit of holding onto his left leg.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57298 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Iraq

IRAQ: Southern Iraq in danger of slipping into chaos

A former major general in the Iraq army has warned that the bloody battle that took place in the holy Shi'ite Muslim city of Najaf, some 200km south of Baghdad, in late January could mark a turning point for the relative peace the southern provinces have had since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57300 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Iraq

LEBANON: Long-term environmental challenges ahead

Seven months after Israel bombed the coastal Jiyyeh power plant in the south of Beirut, the Mediterranean Sea still spews oil onto Lebanon's shores, and beach sand shifts to reveal oil slicks that could not be detected before, fishermen say.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57560 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Lebanon

IRAQ-JORDAN: Iraqi asylum seekers in Jordan to increase threefold The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said on Wednesday that the number of Iraqi asylum seekers in Jordan was expected to increase threefold as a result of operational changes within the agency.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57568 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Iraq-Jordan

occ. Palestinian terr.: Israeli lock-down cripples Nablus economy

Israeli moves to control movement in and out of the city of Nablus are thwarting humanitarian aid efforts and damaging the local economy, according to aid agencies and local residents.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57307 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=OPT

occ. Palestinian terr.: Gaza fighting threatening aid, says UN

Six United Nations agencies have warned that bloody street battles between rival Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip are blocking the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to a vulnerable population.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57295 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=OPT

YEMEN: Humanitarian crisis looms if rebel group not stopped

Yemeni officials and activists have warned of a humanitarian crisis in northern Yemen should clashes continue between government forces and supporters of Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi, a radical Shi'ite religious leader who was killed in September 2004.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57539 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Yemen

YEMEN: Trafficked children could become terrorists, specialists warn

Saudi and Yemeni authorities have agreed to make a more concerted effort to crack down on child trafficking between the two countries. This comes as child specialists in Yemen have warned that trafficked children are at risk of becoming terrorists as they might be lured into Islamic extremist groups on either side of the border.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57303 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=Yemen

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