Middle East & North Africa

CAIRO (AP) — Militias patrolled nearly deserted streets in Libya’s capital Sunday, a day after clashes killed over 30 people and ended Tripoli’s monthslong stretch of relative calm.

The fighting broke out early Saturday and pitted militias loyal to the Tripoli-based government against other armed groups allied with a rival administration that has for months sought to be seated in the capital.

Residents fear the fighting that capped a monthslong political deadlock could explode into a wider war and a return to the peaks of Libya’s long-running conflict.

BEIRUT (AP) — Satellite imagery showed widespread destruction at a giant military facility in western Syria targeted in a recent Israeli airstrike, and the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Sunday the strike targeted a depot housing hundreds of middle-range missiles for Iran-backed fighters.

Syrian state media reported after the Thursday night attack near the cities of Tartus and Hama that two people were wounded and fires were sparked in nearby forests. It added that the missiles were fired from over the Mediterranean and most of them were shot down.

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) The criticism of India by the Western countries on its imports of Russian crude oil while exempting themselves from their "own illegitimate sanctions" is a reflection of their unprincipled position and double standards, Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov said on Sunday.

27 August 2022; AA: Teknofest, Türkiye’s premier aerospace and technology festival, will start next week in the city of Samsun, on the Turkish Black Sea. 

Starting on Tuesday at Samsun Carsamba Airport, the six-day event will feature activities such as air shows with warplanes, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and helicopters, as well as seminars, summits, and competitions.

27 August 2022; AA: Estimates show the tropics and subtropics, including the Indian subcontinent, large parts of Arabian Peninsula and sub-Saharan Africa, will experience dangerously hot temperatures most days of the year by the end of this century, said the paper published in the Communications Earth and Environment journal on Thursday.

This is likely to happen even if we are somehow successful in limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the study warned.

27 August 2022; AA: Algeria and France on Saturday signed a declaration for "renewed partnership" at the end of French President Emmanuel Macron's 3-day visit to the North African nation, according to local media.

Macron and Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune signed the declaration in the capital Algiers for a "new, irreversible dynamic of progress" in the relations between the two countries, the state news agency APS reported.

27 August 2022; AA: Tunisia summoned its ambassador from Morocco on Saturday amid a dispute over a visit to the North African nation by the head of the Polisario Front that is seeking independence of the Western Sahara.  

The move came one day after Morocco recalled its envoy from Tunisia in protest of a meeting between President Kais Saied and Brahim Ghali ahead of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) summit, due to open on Saturday. 

27 August 2022; AA: French President Macron's remarks on Türkiye during his current visit to Algeria were "unacceptable," said Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

"It is extremely unfortunate that French President Emmanuel Macron made statements targeting our country, along with some other countries, during his visit to Algeria," ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said in a written response to questions by reporters.

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An air strike on a children’s play area killed at least seven people in the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Friday, medical officials there said, the first such attack after a four-month old ceasefire collapsed this week.

The officials said three children were among the dead but a a federal government spokesman denied any civilian casualties.

ISTANBUL, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Turkey's military and intelligence unit "neutralised" nine members of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in operations in northern Iraq, the Defence Ministry and state-run media said on Saturday.

Turkey regularly carries out air strikes in neighbouring Iraq as part of its offensive against PKK militants based there.

"Our operations will continue until the last terrorist is neutralised," the ministry said on Twitter, adding that the military targeted seven PKK members. It typically uses the word "neutralised" to mean killed.