Middle East & North Africa

RIYADH, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The Group of 20 (G20) members vowed on Saturday to address disturbances in education and training caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The G20 education ministers held a virtual meeting and stressed commitment to working towards stronger and more innovative approaches to build resilience in educational systems and improve teaching and learning, the Saudi G20 presidency said in a statement.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An explosion that rattled Iran’s capital came from an area in its eastern mountains that analysts believe hides an underground tunnel system and missile production sites, satellite photographs showed Saturday.

What exploded in the incident early Friday that sent a massive fireball into the sky near Tehran remains unclear, as does the cause of the blast.

27 June 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is considering scrapping the rotation deal with Defence Minister and alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Friday.

Likud is deliberating offering presidency of Israel to Gantz in 2021 as an “honorable way out” of the rotation deal.

27 June 2020; MEMO: Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran confirmed that Turkey will continue to protect the country’s cultural and religious heritage, and that any decision regarding Hagia Sophia is an internal Turkish decision.

27 June 2020; MEMO: A memorandum of understanding on economic development and cooperation spanning the next four years has been signed between Palestine and Spain at a value of €100 million ($112 million), reported Wafa news agency.

The agreement, signed by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki and his Spanish counterpart Arancha Gonzalez Laya, includes support for the employment sector and the Palestinian economy, agriculture and water sector.

JERUSALEM, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Israeli air force jets have struck Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip after rockets were fired on Friday from the territory towards Israel, the army said.

The exchange came after Hamas warned that Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank amounted to a “declaration of war”.

Israel jets struck ammunition and rocket “factories” in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said.

CAIRO (AP) — The leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed late Friday to return to talks aimed at reaching an accord over the filling of Ethiopia’s new hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile, according to statements from the three nations.

Early Saturday, Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s water and energy minister, confirmed that the countries had decided during an African Union summit to restart stalled negotiations and finalize an agreement over the contentious mega-project within two to three weeks, with support from the AU.

26 June 2020; MEMO: Iraq’s counterterrorism agencies carried out a raid last night on the headquarters of the Iranian-supported Hezbollah Brigades, one of the most powerful factions of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in southern Baghdad. At least 13 of the group’s members are believed to have been arrested, although there have been contradictory, unconfirmed accounts of what happened and of the number of those detained.

26 June 2020; MEMO: The Ministry of Defence of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) said it will continue in its moves to recapture the eastern city of Sirte from the forces of renegade General Khalifa Haftar despite the warning of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that the city represents a “red line” for his country.

26 June 2020; MEMO: Amnesty yesterday called on the Egyptian authorities to protect a detained journalist from “torture and ill-treatment”.

On Wednesday, authorities in Egypt arrested Nora Younis, editor-in-chief of Al-Manassa, from her workplace south of Cairo, according to journalists and lawyers.

The international organisation called on authorities to “allow Younis to contact her family and lawyer immediately and protect her from torture or other ill-treatment.”