Middle East & North Africa

BAGHDAD, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi health official said on Tuesday that Iraq wants to secure the Russian COVID-19 vaccine after it is internationally approved, as the country's health ministry reported 3,396 new cases during the past 24 hours.

The Iraqi health authorities are continuing to follow up the international attempts to produce coronavirus vaccines, said Riyadh Abdul-Amir, head of the ministry's public health department, in a press release.

BEIRUT (AP) — When the huge explosion ripped through Beirut last week, it shattered the glass doors near where 3-year-old Abed Achi was playing with his Lego blocks. He suffered a head injury and cuts on his tiny arms and feet, and he was taken to the emergency room, where he sat amid other bleeding people.

In the days since then, Abed has not been the same. Like thousands of others in Lebanon, he is grappling with trauma.

JERUSALEM (AP) — When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival, Benny Gantz, agreed to form an “emergency” government in May after three bitter and deadlocked election campaigns, the goal was to stabilize Israeli politics in the face of a global pandemic.

JERUSALEM (AP) — In a summer of protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the accusations of corruption and calls for him to resign could be accompanied by another familiar refrain: “I’ve never done this before.”

RAMALLAH, Aug 11 (NNN-WAFA) – Senior Palestinian officials accused Israel that it carries out “smoothly” the annexation of the West Bank lands under the pretext of military training.

Sabri Saidam, a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement’s Central Committee, told reporters in Ramallah that, Israel is proceeding with its annexation plan through political and military manoeuvres.

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopian Defence Minister Lemma Megerssa and two other top officials have been temporarily suspended from the ruling Prosperity Party’s central committee.

Lemma was once a close ally of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and a key figure in the country’s political and economic reform over the past few years.

Prior to being appointed as a defence minister he was the head of the country’s most-populous state, Oromia.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least two explosions have hit convoys supplying U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq in the last 24 hours, security sources said, the first on Monday evening near the southern border with Kuwait and the second on Tuesday north of Baghdad.

The explosions, which caused no casualties but did some material damage, are the latest in a string of such incidents in recent weeks. An attack in southern Iraq on Sunday hit a convoy carrying supplies to coalition forces, the military said.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will issue seismic exploration and drilling licenses in new areas of the eastern Mediterranean by the end of August and continue its operations in the region, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, amid tensions with Greece.

NATO allies Turkey and Greece are at odds over overlapping claims for hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey sent its Oruc Reis vessel on Monday to conduct a seismic survey in a disputed area, in a move Greece said was illegal.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have arrested five Iranians on charges of spying for Israel, Britain and Germany, convicting and handing down prison sentences on at least two of them, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

“In recent months, five Iranians who were spying for foreign intelligence services have been arrested,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in a virtual news conference.

Shahram Shirkhani spied for British intelligence services and tried to recruit some Iranian officials for Britain’s MI6 agency, Esmali said.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians began voting on Tuesday for members of a newly created second chamber of parliament, with restrictive measures in place aimed at curbing a resurgence of novel coronavirus infections.

The Council of Senators will be an advisory body without legislative powers. It will include 200 elected members and 100 appointed by the president.

As in Egypt’s main parliamentary chamber, supporters of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are expected to dominate.