Middle East & North Africa

BAGHDAD, Aug 1 (NNN-NINA) – Iraq, yesterday, discussed with the visiting secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), ways to strengthen bilateral relations in various fields.

During a meeting with the GCC chief, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Iraqi President, Abdul Latif Rasheed, expressed Iraq’s desire to establish strong political, social, administrative, and diplomatic ties with other countries, according to a statement by the Iraqi Presidency.

TEHRAN, Aug 1 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Mehrdad Bazrpash, announced yesterday that, Iran and Syria have eliminated bilateral trade tariffs.

Bazrpash made the announcement, at a meeting of heads of the Iran-Syria Joint Economic Commission, co-chaired by visiting Syrian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Mohammad Samer al-Khalil, in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Besides, Iran and Syria agreed to use their national currencies, the Iranian rial and the Syrian pound, in bilateral trade, if possible, according to the minister.

JERUSALEM, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. observers are in Israel this week to discreetly assess conditions at its border crossings for Palestinian-Americans as part of an emerging Israeli-U.S. visa waiver deal, four officials said.

The officials, who declined to be identified by name or nationality, said the delegation visited Israel's immigration office on Sunday, Ben Gurion Airport on Monday and would on Tuesday tour checkpoints on the occupied West Bank's boundaries.

BEIRUT, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Syria has expressed its willingness to receive 180,000 displaced refugees from Lebanon at the first stage, said Lebanese Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine on Tuesday.

"We have reached an understanding with the Syrian government to resolve the crisis of the displaced safely," Charafeddine was quoted as saying by the Elnashra news website.

DUBAI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Iran has announced Wednesday and Thursday this week will be public holidays because of "unprecedented heat" and told the elderly and people with health conditions to stay indoors, Iranian state media reported.

Many cities in southern Iran have already suffered from days of exceptional heat. State media reported temperatures had this week exceeded 123 degrees Fahrenheit (51 Celsius) in the southern city of Ahvaz.

ISTANBUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkish anti-narcotics police have seized 8.5 tons of drugs and more than 2.5 million pills since January in Istanbul, the governor's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The police have carried out 24,539 anti-narcotics operations and detained 3,251 suspects since January, said the statement.

It vowed to make unremitting efforts to counter drug-related crimes in Istanbul, the statement added.

MAALE ADUMIM, West Bank (AP) — A Palestinian gunman opened fire in an Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem on Tuesday, wounding at least five people before being shot and killed, Israeli police said.

The shooting outside a shopping mall in the sprawling Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, in the occupied West Bank, was the latest in the most violent stretch of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the territory in nearly two decades.

RIYADH, Jul 31 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, urged warring parties in Sudan, to stop “all forms of military escalation” and find a political solution that would guarantee Sudan’s return to security and stability.

In a phone call that Faisal received from General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the Saudi top diplomat urged the warring parties in Sudan to “restore calm” and prioritise their national interest.

TEHRAN, Jul 31 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, met with visiting UN special envoy for Iraq yesterday, in the capital, Tehran, to discuss Iraq developments.

During the meeting, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert commented on developments in and outside Iraq, and highlighted Iran’s constructive role regarding the Arab country, according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court said Monday that a full panel of 15 justices would hear petitions in September against a contentious law that was passed last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and which has spurred mass protests.

The law was one of a series of proposed changes to Israel’s judiciary put forward by Netanyahu’s government earlier this year that seek to curb the power of the Supreme Court. The judicial overhaul plan has been met with months of sustained mass protest against the legislation and drawn criticism from the White House.