Middle East & North Africa

11 May 2023; MEMO: Iran's Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs arrived in Jeddah, a Saudi Arabian port city on the Red Sea, on Thursday, in the first visit to the Kingdom by a senior Iranian official since the restoration of diplomatic relations, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Ehsan Khandouzi is leading a high-level economic delegation to Saudi Arabia, according to state media, as the two countries move to rejuvenate economic ties.

ISTANBUL, May 11 (Reuters) - Turkish Airlines (THY) (THYAO.IS) will order a total of 600 new aircraft in June and they will be delivered within ten years, company chairman Ahmet Bolat said on Thursday.

Such an order, if confirmed, would be the largest in the industry's history by a single airline, eclipsing a record order by Air India for 470 Airbus and Boeing planes in December, but his comments took some industry sources and analysts by surprise.

TEHRAN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia has appointed its new ambassador to Tehran, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Amir-Abdollahian revealed that Riyadh had informed the Iranian government about the appointment of the new envoy on Tuesday. He also expressed Iran's commitment to reciprocate by soon appointing its ambassador to Saudi Arabia and introducing him to the Saudi government.

GAZA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of a militant group in Gaza was killed early on Thursday when the Israeli army's unmanned suicide drones attacked his apartment in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

Palestinian security officials confirmed that Ali Hassan Ghali, a military council member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), was killed after two Israeli suicide drones attacked his apartment in a building north of the city.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai International Airport had over 21.2 million passengers pass through its terminals in the first quarter of the year, potentially nearing numbers it saw before the coronavirus pandemic grounded air traffic around the world.

The Dubai airport, the home of the long-haul carrier Emirates, is the world’s busiest for international travel and serves as a bellwether for the global aviation industry.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — The Ukrainian government is seeking to extend a wartime deal that allowed the country’s grain to get to nations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat, a top Ukrainian official said Thursday after the latest talks on prolonging the agreement.

The two-talks in Istanbul involved Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and United Nations officials but yielded no decisions for an extension. The deal is due to expire next Wednesday.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A candidate in Turkey’s presidential election announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from the race, a move that’s likely to bolster President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main challenger.

Muharrem Ince, the leader of the center-left Homeland Party, was one of four contenders running for president in the May 14 election. Turkey will also be holding a parliamentary election at the same time.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A candidate in Turkey’s presidential election announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from the race, a move that’s likely to bolster President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main challenger.

Muharrem Ince, the leader of the center-left Homeland Party, was one of four contenders running for president in the May 14 election. Turkey will also be holding a parliamentary election at the same time.

10 May 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is planning to transform Islam's second holiest city of Madinah into a "modern Islamic and cultural destination" according to a report yesterday by Arab News.

11 May 2023; MEMO: Two days after Syria was reinstated to the Arab League at its meeting in Cairo, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, on Tuesday, that the Kingdom will resume the work of its diplomatic mission in Syria.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry added in its statement said that resuming the diplomatic mission's work in Syria is based on the brotherly ties that unite the Saudi and Syrian peoples and reflects keenness to contribute to developing joint Arab action.