The Egyptian minister of culture said on Saturday that a masterpiece by Vincent van Gogh valued at $50 million had been stolen from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo. Farouk Hosni added that police had been searching for unknown suspects who lifted the "Vase and Flowers" (known as «Poppy flowers»). After that Hosni said two Italians had been arrested at Cairo airport, and the canvas found. But later he said he had been given "inaccurate" information, and the masterpiece was still missing. The same painting was previously lifted from the same museum in 1978, but recovered ten years later in Kuwait.The Mahmoud Khalil Museum also possesses artworks by Monet, Renoir and Degas. Bbc.co.uk

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Friday urged Saudi Arabia to stop sending Somali refugees and asylum seekers back to the war-ravaged Mogadishu. "UNHCR is deeply troubled by the reports of continuing deportations of Somali refugees and asylum seekers from Saudi Arabia to the conflict-stricken Somali capital," middle-east-online.com quotes the UN refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming as saying. "According to our local partners in Mogadishu, some 1,000 Somalis were deported from Saudi Arabia in June alone. For July the total so far is estimated to be close to 1,000," said Fleming. This week dozens of civilians have been killed in clashes between government forces and Shebab militia in Somali capital. Saudi Arabia has not joined the international refugee convention but UNHCR said all countries should extend some form of international protection to Somalis who had to leave their homes because they could not return to Somalia safely.

Hamas authorities ruling the Gaza strip are banning women from smoking water pipes in cafes and open places, claiming it violates customs, traditions and social norms. The smoking of water pipes loaded with scented tobacco, also known as shisha, is popular in cafes and public places of the Arab countries and was one of the few remaining leisure activities left in the isolated coastal strip. According to policemen, husbands often divorce women seen smoking in public. The owners of several coastal cafes said that in recent days they were ordered to stop serving the water pipes at all, before police clarified that the ban only referred to women and minors. Alarabiya.net.

A fire in the Soma Hotel in Suleimaniya, northern Iraq, has killed at least 29 people and left many wounded. Four Americans were among the dead, according to bbc.co.uk. Also reportedly killed in the fire were citizens of Sri Lanka, Cambodia and the Philippines, and at least one Canadian. They worked as engineers. Suleimaniya is in northern Iraq's Kurdish autonomous area. City authorities said it was likely that the fire was started by an electrical fault, with no evidence that it was a result of a terror attack.

Tropical Cyclone Phet moved toward the coast of Oman on Thursday and was expected to make landfall on Friday. Phet is estimated as a Category 4 storm with winds of over 210 km per hour. According to Oman state television the authorities ordered to evacuate people from areas of eastern Oman, where waves were 8 meters high. National air company Oman Air cancelled two flights so that aircraft could evacuate people from Masirah island off the east coast. Phet is expected to hit the coast as a weaker Category 1 storm and move inland as a tropical storm. Alarabiya.net.

Egyptian writers have criticized a call by a group of Islamic lawyers to forbid classic book Arabian Nights because it is "obscene". The group calling themselves «Lawyers Without Shackles» complained with Egypt's prosecutor general after the folk work of literature was republished. They called for the new edition to be banned. Lawyers Without Shackles spokesman said he had been shocked at some phrases the book contained. In his words they "call to sin". Mohammed Salmawy from Writers' Union called lawyers’ behavior «Taliban-like». "Those who want to destroy our heritage are taking the same path as the Taliban when they destroyed Buddha's statues," Mohammed Salmawy was quoted by bbc.co.uk as saying.

Normally arid Riyadh has been paralysed by flooding after heavy rains. Violent thunderstorms shook Saudi capital on Monday. According to accounts from residents and TV reports underpasses, stalling cars got flooded. No injuries were reported. But after the warning by meteorological officials of more storms Tuesday Riyadh region governor Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz ordered the suspension of schools.

middle-east-online.com.

The US has freed from custody Qatari diplomat Mohammed al-Madadi, 27 after allegedly starting a bomb scare on a plane. Al-Madadi was reported to smoke in a toilet and then joke about setting fire to his shoes. Two F-16 jets were sent to intercept the United Airlines plane, on a flight from Washington to Denver. US officials would not declare the diplomat "persona non grata". However, one of them say: «Al-Madadi’s ability to function effectively has been significantly compromised».

Bbc.co.uk.

A British pair hold for kissing in public in Dubai has lost their appeal. In November Ayman Najafi, 24, and Charlotte Adams, 25 were sentenced to a month in jail with subsequent deportation and fined £200 for drinking alcoholic drinks. Britons were arrested after after a local woman accused them of violating country's decency laws by kissing on the mouth. The pair is intended to make a second appeal.

Bbc.co.uk.

Rescuers on Tuesday have found the body of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahayan after his ultralight aircraft crashed in Morocco. A team of divers had searched an artificial lake south of Rabat for four days. Moroccan state news agency MAP reported that the body of Sheikh Ahmed was pulled from the waters of a lake by rescuers. The Spanish pilot of the glider survived and stays in hospital. Sheikh Ahmed was a managing director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). In 2009 he was No 27 on Forbes's list of the world's most powerful people.

Bbc.co.uk.