Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, January 12./TASS/: Russia’s Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov met in the Afghan capital city on Thursday with the Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Deputy Spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad reported.

"At the beginning, Muttaqi spoke at length about bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Russia, regional issues, economic cooperation and the latest developments in Afghanistan," Hafiz Zia Ahmad blogged on Twitter.

TEHRAN, Jan 11 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian Intelligence Ministry, announced yesterday that, its forces destroyed six groups affiliated with Israeli intelligence service, Mossad.

The ministry said, the groups “intended to assassinate a military official and make sabotage attempts in some metropolitan cities across the country.”

The ministry added, it had identified 23 members of the network, 13 of whom were arrested inside Iran, with their equipment seized.

CAIRO, Jan 12 (NNN-MENA) – The Egyptian pound further declined against the U.S. dollar yesterday, plunging to below 31 pounds to the dollar, before settling at 29.7 in the afternoon.

The Egyptian local currency has lost about half of its value since Mar, 2022, when a dollar was worth about 15.7 pounds.

Egypt devalued its local currency twice in 2022, the latest of which was in late Oct.

BAGHDAD, Jan 12 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi oil minister, said yesterday that, investment opportunities would soon be offered to increase the output capacities of some Iraqi refineries.

“Within the ministry’s plans, to increase refining capacities in Iraq, investment opportunities will include the Amarah refinery in Maysan province, with an increase of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), and the al-Muthanna refinery by 100,000 bpd,” Iraqi Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul Ghani, said in a statement.

ANKARA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye has ushered in the new year with significant pay hikes for minimum-wage earners, pensioners, and civil servants amid a cost-of-living crisis that has plunged millions into financial hardship.

Inflation remains alarmingly high despite a sharp drop to 64.2 percent in December, the Turkish Statistical Institute announced on Jan. 3, down from 84.3 percent reported in November after hitting a 24-year high in October.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military shot and killed two Palestinians during separate arrest raids in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, the latest bloodshed in months of rising violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

11 Jan 2023; MEMO: An Israeli parliamentarian from the extreme far-right Otzma Yehudit party called on Tuesday for the arrest of opposition leaders and two former MKs, accusing them of "treason against the state," Israeli media have reported.

11 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Tunisian journalists' union warned on Tuesday of the dangerous effect of presidential decree 54 regarding freedom of expression and the press in light of the initiation of lawsuits against President Kais Saied's opponents.

11 Jan 2023; MEMO: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has issued an order to suspend the governor of Diwaniyah, Zuhair Ali Al-Shaalan, while an investigation over corruption allegations is carried out, the Iraqi News Agency has reported.

"The decision was made due to the investigative procedures on suspicions of administrative and financial corruption, which the competent courts are reviewing," confirmed the prime minister's media office.

12 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Iranian judiciary yesterday sentenced former deputy defence minister Alireza Akbari to death on charges of spying for Britain.

An Iranian Ministry of Intelligence statement described Akbari, who served as deputy defence minister until 2001, as "one of the most important infiltrators of the British spy service in the country's sensitive and strategic apparatuses," according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.