Middle East & North Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s prime minister on Wednesday ordered the military to confront one of the country’s regional governments after he said it attacked a military base overnight, citing months of “provocation and incitement” and declaring that “the last red line has been crossed.”

The statement by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office, and the reported attack by the well-armed Tigray People’s Liberation Front, immediately raised concerns that one of Africa’s most populous and powerful countries could plunge back into war.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The death toll in last week’s Aegean Sea earthquake has risen to 116 on Wednesday as rescuers in the Turkish city of Izmir focused on the final two collapsed buildings.

All but two of the victims were killed in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city. Two teenagers died on the Greek island of Samos, which lies to the south of the epicenter of last Friday’s earthquake.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD, said search and rescue operations had been completed at 15 of 17 buildings that fell as the violent quake shook Izmir.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco 2222.SE on Tuesday reported a 44.6% drop in third-quarter net profit as the coronavirus crisis continued to choke demand and weigh on crude prices.

Share prices of global oil companies have been hammered this year as investors fret over the impact of the pandemic on energy demand and the long-term shift away from fossil fuels.

03 Nov 2020; MEMO: The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the UAE has said that French President Emmanuel Macron was correct in his call to “reform” Islam in order to “integrate” Muslims into society. “[Muslims] have to listen carefully to what Macron said in his speech,” Anwar Gargash told German daily Die Welt, “He doesn’t want to isolate Muslims in the West, and he is totally right.”

03 Nov 2020; MEMO: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) began large-scale manoeuvres on Monday covering as many as seven airbases and involving dozens of manned and unmanned fighter and transport aircraft in the central province of Isfahan, IRNA news agency has reported. Air Force spokesman Brigadier General Farhad Goudarzi said that the exercise is expected to last for two days.

03 Nov 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas giant, Aramco, reported its third quarter profits with a net profit of $11.79 billion; a 44.6 per cent drop from last year’s $21.3 billion, which is in line with analysts’ expectations.

Aramco said it had maintained a $18.75 billion dividend which will be paid in the fourth quarter of this year, noting that the capital expenditures in the third quarter amounted to $6.4 billion.

03 Nov 2020; MEMO: The Iranian parliament yesterday approved a bill requiring the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) to produce at least 120 kilogrammes of 20 per cent enriched uranium annually at the Fordow nuclear site.

03 Nov 2020; MEMO: A Sudanese expert on international law and water policy has said that his country will benefit from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the BBC reported on Sunday. Salman Mohamad called on the government in Khartoum to reach a peaceful solution for the crisis caused by the dam.

03 Nov 2020; MEMO: Turkish forces have evacuated their largest military base in Syria’s north-eastern province of Idlib, Germany’s DPA reported on Monday.

“Convoys carrying military personnel and equipment were seen leaving the Morek base in the northern Hama countryside,” explained the agency.

03 Nov 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed his hope that US President Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House, Anadolu reported on Monday.

Praising Trump’s Middle East policy, Netanyahu said: “I can only hope that this policy that isolates Iran and brings the fruits of peace, peace grounded in reality to the people of Israel, to the Arab peoples of the region; I can only hope that this policy will continue in the coming years.”