Middle East & North Africa

DERNA, Libya (AP) — Libyan authorities limited access to the flooded city of Derna on Friday to make it easier for searchers to dig through the mud and hollowed-out buildings for the more than 10,000 people still missing and presumed dead following a disaster that has already claimed more than 11,000 lives.

The staggering death toll could grow further due to the spread of waterborne diseases and shifting of explosive ordnance that was swept up when two dams collapsed early Monday and sent a wall of water gushing through the city, officials warned.

ANKARA, September 14. /TASS/: Specific conditions necessary for the resumption of the grain deal will be on the agenda of the planned talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the High-level Week of the UN General Assembly, a diplomatic source in Ankara told TASS.

SANAA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- An Omani delegation arrived in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Thursday to persuade the Houthi group to resume a truce with the Yemeni government, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.

The delegation will hold talks with Houthi leaders, said the television channel, without providing details.

Oman, which borders both Yemen and Saudi Arabia, has been actively engaged in brokering a truce between the Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Israel announced a plan to encourage the establishment of renewable energy generation and storage facilities in dense urban areas, the Israeli Electricity Authority said Thursday.

The plan will grant bonuses to companies, entrepreneurs, and property owners that set up such facilities in 70 selected dense urban areas.

AMIZMIZ, Morocco (AP) — Rachid Alachoun, a 40-year-old plumber, washes clothes on the roof of his home. Half of it remains standing while the other half can be found in piles of rocks visible from the roof.

Alachoun is among the survivors near the epicenter of an earthquake that hit Morocco last Friday. Authorities have reported 2,946 deaths and several thousand injuries.

DERNA, Libya (AP) — The Libyan city of Derna has buried thousands of people in mass graves, officials said Thursday, as search teams scoured ruins left by devastating floods and the city’s mayor said the death toll could triple.

The deluge swept away entire families on Sunday night and exposed vulnerabilities in the oil-rich country that has been mired in conflict since a 2011 uprising that toppled long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Health officials have confirmed 5,500 deaths and say 9,000 people are still missing.

Here’s a look at the latest developments.

ASA’EL, West Bank (AP) — With attention focused on its contentious judicial overhaul, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has quietly taken unprecedented steps toward cementing Israel’s control over the occupied West Bank — perhaps permanently.

RAMALLAH, Sept 13 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestine, yesterday condemned “ongoing Israeli threats” to sever ties with the Palestinian Authority (PA), if Israel is hauled to the international courts.

In a press statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said, “Israel warned us, all the time, not to file war crime charges against Israel’s leaders and settlers.”

BEIRUT, Sept 13 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanon and Britain launched a joint military exercise in central Lebanon, yesterday, the British embassy in Lebanon said in a statement.

More than 65 military personnel from the British Army’s Second Battalion, joined the exercise with their counterparts from Lebanon’s Air Assault Regiment, it added, without specifying the number of Lebanese soldiers.

The 10-day exercise takes place at the Dani Harb Barracks in Ghosta, a municipality located 36 km north of Beirut.

TEHRAN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's atomic chief said on Wednesday his country will not completely implement a 2015 nuclear deal if the Western sanctions on Tehran are not fully lifted and the other parties do not honor their obligations under the agreement.

President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami made the remarks on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in the Iranian capital Tehran, while elaborating on the country's nuclear activities and cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to the official news agency IRNA.