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20 May 2022; MEMO: The US issued a general licence on Thursday to exempt northern Syrian territories, including those controlled by the PKK's regional branch, the YPG, from American sanctions, Anadolu has reported.

19 May 2022; MEMO: Iraq has made a fresh attempt to control revenue from the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan by asking oil and gas firms operating there to sign new contracts with state-owned marketer, SOMO, rather than the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Reuters reports.

Oil Minister, Ihsan Ismael, on 7 May said Iraq's Oil Ministry would start implementing a February federal court ruling that deemed the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional.

19 May 2022; MEMO: Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Al-Hajraf, yesterday welcomed the European Union's adoption of a Joint Communication on a Strategic Partnership with the Gulf.

Colombo, May 18 (PTI) Sri Lanka has received USD 160 Million from the World Bank and is looking at the possibility of using some of it to buy fuel, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament on Wednesday, as protests continued in the country against the ongoing fuel and gas shortages caused by the economic crisis.

"160 million dollars has been received from the World Bank and a grant from the ADB (Asian Development Bank) is also expected," Wickremesinghe said.

He said the money received from the World Bank cannot be used to buy fuel.

Mumbai, May 18 (PTI) The rupee on Wednesday declined by 16 paise to close at its fresh lifetime low of 77.60 against the US dollar amid unabated foreign fund outflows and a stronger greenback in overseas markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 77.57 and later hit the day's low of 77.61 as the dollar rebounded in global markets following hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.

Crude oil prices also surged over 1 per cent, which weighed on the rupee.

17 May 2022; MEMO: At midnight today, Morocco and Spain reopened their land borders in the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, after they were closed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the diplomatic crisis in relations between the two countries.

Agence France-Presse said that the iron gates of the border crossing between Ceuta and Fnideq opened at about 22:00 GMT, and dozens of cars crossed them towards the Spanish side.

17 May 2022; MEMO: The global reaction against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine has led to fresh concerns about Turkiye's first nuclear power plant, which is being built by Moscow's state-owned nuclear company, Al Jazeera reports.

According to the report, the first reactor of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Turkiye, located on the Mediterranean coast near Mersin, was planned to start next year. Yet, the sanctions have threatened to delay the $20bn project.

17 May 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has assured its citizens that there is no shortage of wheat supplies in the country, amid global shortages exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war.

Speaking in a programme called 'In the open' on a Saudi television channel, the Deputy Governor of the Saudi Grains Organisation (SAGO), Zaid Al Shabanat, made the assurance by clarifying that his organisation's strategy is to source grain from multiple countries and continents instead of relying on a single source.

17 May 2022; MEMO: About 300,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat booked by Egypt's state grains buyer for delivery in February and March is yet to be shipped, with one cargo stuck in port and four others still to be loaded, four traders said and Reuters reports.

Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) has granted an extension to secure the cargoes but is not offering trading companies any force majeure release from contractual obligations, according to traders.

18 May 2022; MEMO: Iran yesterday inaugurated a factory in Tajikistan to manufacture military drones.

The opening of the factory to manufacture Ababil-2 drones was attended by the Iranian Chief of Staff, Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, and the Tajik Defence Minister, Sherali Mirzo, in the capital city of Dushanbe.

Bagheri said in a statement that the opening was part of his country's "plans to expand military and defence cooperation between the two Persian nations."