Riyadh ranked among most polluted cities globally

Riyadh, Mar 12: Riyadh has been ranked one of the most polluted cities in the world, according a report released by a United Nations organization.

The World Health Organization (WHO) report named Ahvaz, the capital of the Khuzestan Province in Iran, to be suffering the worst levels of air pollution, followed by Ulan Bator in Mongolia.

The list also included Lahore, New Delhi, Riyadh, Cairo, Dhaka, Moscow, Mexico City and Beijing, the report said.

The WHO report attributed the inclusion of Riyadh in the list to the occurrence of sandstorms, as well as pollutants emerging from heavy traffic and industrial waste.

Last week, Riyadh Gov. Prince Khalid bin Bandar ordered the formation of a committee to look into sources of pollution in southern Riyadh, where citizens have often complained of pollution in the area’s districts.

Committee members representing a series of government agencies, such as the Higher Commission of Development of Riyadh (HCDR), the Riyadh Governorate, the Ministry of Health, the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) and the National Water Co., are entrusted to put forth urgent solutions for reducing sources of pollution in the area.

An earlier report published by the WHO put North American and Australian cities among the world’s cleanest in terms of air quality. By contrast, seven Asian cities were among the worst globally.

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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