Some residents of western Herat province say most of historic places had been damaged and destroyed during past conflicts asking the government to pay attention to its rehabilitation and protection.

Saadullah, the resident of Chaharmahal areas of Shindand district, told Pajhwok Afghan News a historic place named Arg Chaharmahal was situated in their area but destroyed in the past war.

He asked that government to rehabilitate the historic Chaharmahal.

“This fort is one of Herat’s historical monuments, which would attract many tourists if it were restored. But the lack of attention from the government and public caused this historical monument to be destroyed,” he said.

Syed Masoum Ahmadi, another resident of Gunabad area in Oba district, believed historic sited with 300 years history situated in their area.

He added currently small signs from it ruins existed and the remaining completely destroyed.

Ahmadi added the historic site was called Emarat which had been mentioned in the books of history as well.

In Pashton Zarghon district several historic sites are situated such as Khezro Jan and Chakanda Jan where people from Herat City and other areas go and visit it.

Without directly referring to the status of historical sites at the district level, he said that there was currently no reservoir that was in danger of collapsing, and if there was a report in this regard, this department will get to it immediately Herat has 800 historic sites with most of them situated in the provinces.

Travellers flying with Emirates to Auckland on Friday had a long trip to nowhere when the aircraft they were travelling on turned back to Dubai after seven hours in the air.

Flight number EK448 from Dubai to Auckland departed the UAE at around 10.30am on Friday, setting off on the airline’s longest commercial route — a 14,200km journey to New Zealand’s largest city.

With a total flying time of more than 16 hours, passengers were nearly halfway through the journey, flying near Malaysia, when the jet U-turned, according to data from flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

The aircraft was unable to continue to its destination as Auckland Airport announced it was closing because of major flooding.

Passengers landed back in Dubai again after more than 13 hours in the air, according to data aviation analytics company Cirium.

The rescheduled flight departed Dubai for the second time on Sunday, operating as flight number EK8448. It departed Dubai just after 11am and is expected to arrive in New Zealand at 11.20am on Monday.

Other Emirates flights have been affected by New Zealand’s severe weather. Emirates flight EK448 was delayed for more than five hours on Saturday.

Flight EK448, which was due to depart Dubai for Auckland on Sunday, was cancelled and passengers set to connect on the service from other destinations were not accepted for travel at their original points of departure.

Emirates has advised customers affected due to cancellations to contact their travel agents or Emirates call centres for rebooking options. The airline said flights from Auckland to Dubai on Sunday and Monday were unaffected and “planned to operate according to schedule”.

Some Emirates passengers have taken to social media to express concern over the airline’s rebooking process.

Thousands of travellers were stranded at Auckland Airport on Saturday night after severe weather and flooding.

More than 1,000 passengers are waiting inside the international terminal of the airport and authorities and volunteers handed out more than 1,000 meals, 500 blankets and hundreds of bottles of water and fruit to travellers overnight.

Travellers were advised that international flight schedules will take some time to normalise and asked passengers to be patient.

Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Port has received a new batch of three ship-to-shore cranes amid efforts to boost operational efficiency of the port.

The new cranes have been procured by the Red Sea Gateway Terminal, which is a strategic partner of the Jeddah port and the operator of its North Container Terminal.

The cranes cement the Red Sea Gateway Terminal’s commitment to upscale the terminal’s operations and modernize its logistics infrastructure.

The new service falls in line with the objectives of the National Strategy for Transport and Logistics Services that aims to consolidate the Kingdom’s position as a global logistics hub connecting three continents.

Lebanon announced on Sunday that Qatar has entered a consortium to explore for offshore gas in the Mediterranean Sea off the Lebanese coast.

The country is also counting on the participation of some other Gulf states in the consortium, a political observer said.

Lebanon is hoping the exploration and discovery of commercial quantities of oil and gas will help it overcome its current economic crisis.

The deal will see QatarEnergy receive a minority 30 percent stake in the two blocks of Lebanon’s exclusive economic zone.

QatarEnergy joins the consortium of TotalEnergies of France and Italy’s Eni company for oil and gas exploration in the two Lebanese blocks following the withdrawal of Russia from the agreement.

Lebanon’s share would range from 54 to 63 percent after the deduction of operational and capital costs, in any instance of oil and gas discovery.

The new agreement was signed by Walid Fayad, Lebanon’s energy minister; Saad bin Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister and president and CEO of QatarEnergy; Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies; and Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni.

The ceremony was held at the headquarters of the Lebanese prime minister and in the presence of the ambassadors of Qatar, France and Italy.

Lake Alaotra is a lake that is known to be the largest freshwater lake that can be found in the Toamasina Province which is in the eastern part of the Republic of Madagascar.

Having an average depth of maximum 2 meters (7 feet), this shallow water body is surrounded by areas of dense vegetation, where the center of the island’s most important rice-growing region can be found.

Together with the wetlands, the area it covers is measured at 7,223 square km (2,789 square mi), while the lake itself is only about 900 square km (350 square mi).

Unfortunately, with the increase of the population on the island, as well as the city of Ambatondrazaka with some other cities in the vicinity, some of the hills surrounding the lake have been cleared for farmland which caused terrible environmental consequences.

This definitely can be seen with the lake’s level that has gone back in recent years, and the erosion with the over fishing, there is even bigger threat for the endemic species living in the area.

The fauna includes the Alaotra gentle lemur that is the world’s only primate found exclusively in wetlands, the Durrell mungo and the Madagascar pochard, nevertheless, the flora is mostly comprised of a collection of hundreds of varieties of rice and several varieties of sugar cane and tobacco.

The Ambato River is the sole provider of water that flows in, and also it flows out from the lake as well.

Due to the high importance, Lake Alaotra was included on the list of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, and since 2007 there is bigger attention paid to its existence.

As the country is struggling with food shortages, certainly there are measures being introduced so that the lake would be somewhat saved from, what some would consider, an inevitable destruction with the hope that the remaining endemic species shall remain intact at the lake for a longer period.