Middle East & North Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopians are celebrating progress in the construction of the country’s dam on the Nile River, which has caused regional controversy over its filling.

TEHRAN, August 2. /TASS/: Chairman of the Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s press service said on Sunday.

"Slutsky noted that the visit during the coronavirus pandemic was explained by the level of relations between the two countries and the need to discuss important issues," according to the statement.

BAGHDAD, Aug 1 (NNN-NINA) – The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s announcement, of setting June 6, 2021, a date for early elections.

“Early elections fulfil a key popular demand on the road to greater stability and democracy in Iraq,” UNAMI said in a statement.

It said, the United Nations is ready to provide support and technical advice as requested by Iraq, to ensure “free, fair, and credible elections that win the public’s trust.”

BAGHDAD, Aug 2 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Oil Ministry, said that, it exported more than 85 million barrels of crude oil in July, bringing in revenues of over three billion U.S. dollars.

Iraq’s total exports of crude during July reached 85.66 million barrels, with an average of 2.76 million barrels per day, a ministry’s statement said, citing statistics of the State Organisation for Marketing of Oil.

The average selling price for crude oil in June was about 40.7 dollars per barrel, the statement added.

DUBAI, Aug 2 (NNN-WAM) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Saturday, the start-up operations of its first nuclear power plant in the capital, Abu Dhabi.

The milestone achievement was announced through a tweet by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE’s prime minister.

“We announce the UAE’s success in operating the first peaceful nuclear energy reactor in the Arab world … the work teams succeeded in loading nuclear fuel packages, carrying out comprehensive tests and successfully completing the operation,” tweeted Sheikh Mohammed yesterday.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The foreign minister of United Arab Emirates told his Iranian counterpart that strengthening bilateral cooperation was an important element in tackling the coronavirus, UAE state news agency WAM said on Sunday.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan made the comment to Mohammad Javad Zarif in a video call during which they also exchanged greetings for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, it said.

Shi’ite Muslim Iran has long been at odds with U.S. Gulf Sunni Arab allies the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

02 Aug 2020; MEMO: Kuwait has banned until further notice commercial flights to 31 countries it said that it regarded as high risk due to the spread of the coronavirus, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said on Saturday.

02 Aug 2020; MEMO: Iranian teams have cleaned up an oil slick near field in the northern region of the Gulf that had extended over a six-square-km (2.3 square mile) area, an Iranian maritime official said on Saturday according to a report by Reuters.

The cause of the spill, which occurred on Wednesday, was being investigated, the director general of ports and maritime in Iran’s Bushehr Province, Siavash Arjomandzadeh, told the official IRNA news agency.

02 Aug 2020; MEMO: Egypt said on Saturday that part of a seismic survey planned by Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean potentially encroached on waters where Cairo claims exclusive rights, according to report by Reuters.

An advisory issued last month by Turkey for the survey overlaps with Egypt’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), constituting “a violation and an attack on Egypt’s sovereign rights”, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

02 Aug 2020; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates has begun start-up operations in the initial unit of its first nuclear power plant, Reuters reported the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) as saying on Saturday.