Middle East & North Africa

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinian foreign minister on Thursday attacked the Biden administration as weak and passive in the Middle East, as violence between Israel and the Palestinians surges to its highest levels in nearly two decades.

The comments by Riad Malki reflected the Palestinian frustration with U.S. President Joe Biden, who initially won plaudits from the Palestinians when he rejected the Trump administration’s unabashedly pro-Israel stance. But Biden so far has done little to follow through on that vision

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon handed over to Italy on Thursday morning a notorious Italian drug dealer arrested last month north of the capital of Beirut, judicial officials said.

Bartolo Bruzzaniti was flown to Italy on a private jet that took off from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is being rocked by a wave of mass protests calling for the country’s democracy to be upheld. But the pro-democracy movement lacks any clear message of opposition to Israel’s open-ended military rule over millions of Palestinians.

This contradiction reflects a widely held belief among Jewish Israelis that the conflict with the Palestinians is both intractable and somehow separate from Israel’s internal strife.

RIYADH, Aug 2 (NNN-SPA) – Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Hissein Brahim Taha, renewed his request to the Swedish and Danish governments, for measures to address the recurrent insults to the Quran.

Taha made the remarks at the 18th extraordinary session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, which was held virtually on Monday, said the report.

RAMALLAH, Aug 2 (NNN-WAFA) – The Palestinian Authority (PA), yesterday said, Israel’s daily attacks against the Palestinians, undermine the opportunity to implement the two-state solution.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement that, “the Israeli forces and settlers, daily, attack the Palestinians, their property and their sanctities, which dominate the daily scene of the lives of the Palestinians.”

NAIROBI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Kenya's interior ministry said on Wednesday that it had suspended the local activities of cryptocurrency project Worldcoin while government agencies assess potential risks to public safety.

The project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman launched last week. It requires users to give their iris scans in exchange for a digital ID, and in some countries users also get free cryptocurrency as part of plans to create a new "identity and financial network".

TEHRAN, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- A huge fire broke out on Wednesday morning in an industrial park in a county in the western Iranian province of Lorestan, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.

The massive blaze started at 10:45 a.m. local time (0715 GMT) in an oil production factory in Dorud Industrial Park, Tasnim quoted Ayat Jamali Fooladvand, the head of Dorud County's fire department, as saying.

Firefighters with 16 fire engines have been trying to contain the "very huge" fire while the investigation into the cause of the incident is underway, he added.

TEHRAN, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Mexico on Wednesday discussed the deepening of consular cooperation in their first online joint consular meeting, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The webinar was co-chaired by Director General of the Consular Affairs at Iranian Foreign Ministry Alireza Mahmoudi and the Mexican Foreign Ministry's Director General of Consular Services Jaime Vazquez Bracho.

The two sides also exchanged views on sharing experiences in the areas of immigration, providing consular supports, and expanding bilateral judicial cooperation.

TUNIS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian President Kais Saied has removed Najla Bouden Romdhane from her post as prime minister and immediately appointed a new head of the government.

Ahmed Hachani, the new prime minister, was already sworn in on Tuesday evening, according to a statement released by the presidency late Tuesday.

Before this appointment, Hachani worked at the Central Bank of Tunisia.

On Sept. 29, 2021, Saied appointed Bouden as prime minister, making her the first woman to lead a government in the North African country. 

ANKARA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Türkiye's presidency said in a statement.

During a phone call with Putin, Erdogan underlined the importance of the initiative, which he identified as a "bridge of peace," saying its long-term shutdown "will not benefit anyone" and the low-income countries in need of grain will suffer the most.