Middle East & North Africa

RIYADH, April 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — OPEC oil production increased by just 57,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March from February, as African members’ struggles to pump more crude partially offset increases at the core OPEC members of the Middle East.

All 13 OPEC members—including Libya, Iran, and Venezuela which are exempted from the OPEC+ deal—pumped 28.56 million bpd in March, up by just 57,000 bpd from February, according to OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report, (MOMR) published this week.

TUNIS, April 17 (Reuters) - Tunisia will work with other countries that have offered to help it to prevent environmental damage after a merchant ship carrying up to one thousand tonnes of oil sank in Tunisian waters, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

The ship was heading from Equatorial Guinea to Malta when it sank seven miles off the coast of the southern city of Gabes on Friday. The Tunisian navy rescued all seven crew members following a distress call.

It was carrying between 750 tonnes and one thousand tonnes of fuel, officials said.

RAMALLAH, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to establish a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told reporters on Saturday.

JERUSALEM, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The first direct flight from Israel's Tel Aviv to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh landed on Sunday, said Israel's flagship airline El Al.

The flight, operated by El Al's subsidiary carrier Sun d'Or, took off from Ben Gurion International Airport with 189 passengers on board and landed 53 minutes later at airport in Sharm El-Sheikh, it said.

Sun d'Or would run three weekly round-trip flights on the new route, said El Al.

TEHRAN, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said Saturday that the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) continues to monitor activities in Iran's nuclear sites, but it has no access to the recorded information in its cameras.

"Monitoring continues, but until a (nuclear) agreement is reached, the information will remain with us and will probably be deleted," Behrooz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the AEOI, was quoted by Iran's Arabic language news network Al-Alam as saying.

ADDIS ABABA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) John Nkengasong has warned African countries to follow strict COVID-19 prevention measures despite the current decrease in the number of new infections.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police on Sunday entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City to secure the way for Jewish visitors to the flashpoint holy site, fueling clashes that left 17 Palestinians wounded, according to Palestinian medical workers.

The unrest happened just two days after clashes with Palestinians at the same site. Violence in Jerusalem between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators a year ago escalated into an 11-day Gaza war.

1 April 2022; Tehran, IRNA – While Moscow faces increasing Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, Western clothing brands are now expected to be replaced with Iranian ones in the Russian market over a span of three years. According to a proposal made by the Russian Council of Shopping Centers (RCSC), Western clothing brands that have left the Russian market due to sanctions over the country’s military operation in Ukraine could be replaced by Iranian companies that produce leather clothing, shoes, and bags.

16 April 2022; Tehran, IRNA – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Sunday that Iran condemns desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden and expects immediate reaction from the Swedish government.

The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns burning a copy of the Holy Quran in Linköping, Sweden, by a Danish racist, extremist element which was done under the protection of the Swedish police under the pretext of freedom of speech, Khatibzadeh said in a statement.

15 April 2022; AA: Residential property sales in Turkiye surged 20.6% year-on-year in March, according to the latest data released on Friday.

A total of 134,170 houses changed hands last month, up from 111,241 in March 2021, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported.

Mortgaged house sales amounted to 30,271 in March, up 38.8% year-on-year, accounting for 22.6% of all sales.

Sales to foreign buyers jumped by 31% to 5,567 units last month.