Middle East & North Africa

BASRA, Iraq July 16 (Reuters) - The demolition on Friday of a 300-year-old minaret of a mosque in Iraq's southern city of Basra to make way for road expansion has enraged locals, religious and cultural authorities who condemned it as a further erosion of Iraq's cultural heritage.

Built in 1727, the 11-metre (36 ft) Siraji minaret and its mosque were toppled by a bulldozer at dawn on Friday morning, its brown mud-brick spire with turquoise ornaments disappearing in a cloud of dust.

SANAA, July 16 (Xinhua) -- A UN replacement ship arrived in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Sunday, in preparation to transfer crude oil from a tanker abandoned off the coast of the war-torn country since 2015, UN officials at the scene told reporters.

In the upcoming two-week first phase of the emergency rescue operation, the replacement vessel Nautica will transfer all crude from the floating supertanker Safer, before a catenary anchor leg mooring buoy will be secured to the seabed to fix the replacement ship in the second phase, according to the UN officials.

AMMAN, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Sunday signed a 250-million-U.S. dollar agreement with the World Bank Group to finance a water efficiency project for the kingdom.

The agreement was signed by Jordanian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Zeina Toukan and World Bank Middle East Country Director Jean-Christophe Carret, according to a ministry statement.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister held talks Sunday with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus during the first trip of its kind to the war-torn country since the 12-year conflict began.

The two leaders told reporters that they discussed fighting drugs, the return of Syrian refugees and the imperative of lifting Western sanctions imposed in Syria. They also talked about Israel’s strikes on the war-torn country and water shortages in the Euphrates River that cuts through both countries because of projects in Turkey.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian authorities on Sunday announced a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf and morality police returned to the streets 10 months after the death of a woman in their custody sparked nationwide protests.

The morality police had largely pulled back following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last September, as authorities struggled to contain mass protests calling for the overthrow of the theocracy that has ruled Iran for over four decades.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A Palestinian gunman opened fire on a car in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, wounding three Israelis, including two girls, Israeli authorities said. The suspect fled the scene of the shooting, but he was later captured.

The bloodshed was the latest in a relentless cycle of violence that has gripped the region, driving up the death toll and sparking the worst fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank in nearly two decades.

BAGHDAD, Jul 15 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, held a phone conversation with Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, yesterday, on bilateral ties and road construction, linking the two countries.

A statement issued by his office said in the phone talk, al-Sudani stressed “Iraq’s keenness to build regional and international partnerships, that contribute to the national economic development of the brotherly and friendly countries.”

ADDIS ABABA, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it has faced a "critical" funding shortfall to address the humanitarian needs of refugees in Ethiopia.

The UN refugee agency said in its latest situation update issued late Friday that its operation in Ethiopia has received 64 million U.S. dollars as of the end of May, representing only 15 percent of the requirements.

RIYADH, July 15 (Xinhua) -- A report released by the official Saudi Press Agency on Saturday said Saudi Arabia had made "creative" efforts to promote its civilization and heritage in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 since the kingdom's Culture Ministry became an independent entity in 2018.

RABAT, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and the European Union are seeking continuity of fisheries partnership as the four-year fisheries protocol agreed by the two parties will soon expire.

The two sides will continue scientific cooperation with the "common objective of ensuring the sustainability" of fisheries resources in the region, read a joint statement following an assessment in Brussels of the current fisheries protocol on Thursday, the official news agency MAP reported.