The emirate of Ajman is warning its government employees that they will be penalized for coming into contact for a second time with anyone who has contracted COVID-19, state-linked media in the United Arab Emirates reported Thursday.

Local media outlets said federal employees in Ajman will not receive paid sick leave for quarantine if they come into close contact with infected people outside the workplace or home for a second time.

A top rights activist feels populist autocrats could be facing a turning point as people learn that stirring words don't always translate into action, but he says democratic politicians will have to step up with "visionary leadership" to keep autocrats from getting a second chance.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, wants to counter what he sees as "conventional wisdom" holding that autocrats are in the ascendancy. He commented as the New York-based advocacy group on Thursday released its annual report chronicling the human rights situations in roughly 100 countries where it works – from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

The Gaza Strip has few jobs, little electricity and almost no natural resources. But after four bruising wars with Israel in just over a decade, it has lots of rubble.

Local businesses are now finding ways to cash in on the chunks of smashed concrete, bricks and debris left behind by years of conflict. In a territory suffering from a chronic shortage of construction materials, a bustling recycling industry has sprouted up, providing income to a lucky few but raising concerns that the refurbished rubble is substandard and unsafe.

Iran, Venezuela and Sudan are in arrears on paying dues to the United Nations' operating budget and are among eight nations that will lose their voting rights in the 193-member General Assembly, the U.N. chief said in a letter.

Also losing voting rights are Antigua and Barbuda, Republic of Congo, Guinea, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the letter to General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid.

Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2022 released Thursday that “the corrupt and incompetent Lebanese authorities have deliberately” plunged the country into one of the worst economic crises in modern times, demonstrating a disregard for the rights of the population.

It called for the international community to use “every tool at its disposal to pressure Lebanese policymakers to put in place the reforms necessary to pull Lebanon out of this crisis,” said Aya Majzoub, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. She added that they should include imposing sanctions against leaders responsible for the “ongoing grave human rights violations.”

Public drivers, tanker trucks and buses blocked major highways Thursday to protest the country's deteriorating economic and financial conditions

The general strike by public transport and labor unions started at 5 a.m., making it difficult for people to move around.

Israel has said that it had broken up an Iranian spy ring that recruited Israeli women via social media. The women agreed to photograph sensitive sites, gather intelligence and in at least two cases, to encourage their sons to join Israeli military intelligence.

Israel views Iran as its greatest threat, and the two nations have been waging a shadow war for years. Israel has repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is seeking such weapons and has vowed a harsh response to any aggression.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed by friendly fire overnight while on a security patrol near a military base in the Jordan Valley, the military said early Thursday.

It said they were misidentified and mistakenly killed by fellow soldiers.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has urged rival factions in Sudan to engage in talks to move forward in their transition to democracy after a coup toppled the civilian-led government.

The Oct. 25 military takeover has upended Sudan's plans to move to democracy after three decades of repression and international sanctions under autocrat Omar al-Bashir. A popular uprising forced the military's overthrow of al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

Hizbullah has hosted a conference for Saudi opposition figures in its stronghold south of Beirut on Wednesday in a defiant gesture certain to anger the oil-rich kingdom.

The gathering came as the Lebanese government is trying to mend relations with Saudi Arabia that hit a new low in October when the kingdom recalled its ambassador from Beirut and banned all Lebanese imports.