Middle East & North Africa

Jerusalem, Jun 26 (AP/PTI) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his government and the United Arab Emirates will soon announce a partnership in the fight against the coronavirus.

The deal, which the UAE later said involved two private companies, comes despite recent warnings from UAE officials that Israel's planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank would harm its efforts to improve relations with Arab states.

KHARTOUM, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An international conference pledged to provide around 1.8 billion U.S. dollars to Sudan to help the northeast African country battle an economic crisis, a senior Sudanese official said.

Countries and international organizations participating in the Sudan Partnership Conference will provide a total of 1.8 billion dollars to finance the country’s transitional period, Sudan’s Information Minister Faisal Mohamed Saleh told reporters after the meeting.

ADEN, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of malnourished children in Yemen could rise to 2.4 million by the end of the year due to a big shortfall in humanitarian funding, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said.

A UNICEF report warned of a rise of 20 per cent in the number of malnourished chidren under the age of five – almost half of all of that age in the country.

GAZA CITY, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank would be a “declaration of war”, Gaza rulers Hamas said, as a UN envoy warned the move could fuel extremism.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aims to table annexation plans from July 1, despite opposition from the Palestinians and much of the international community.

In a televised address, Hamas’s military wing said such a move would prompt a war with the Palestinians.

TEHRAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A gas tank exploded in a public area of Parchin, east of capital Tehran, on early Friday, a defense ministry official told IRNA news agency.

The explosion did not affect a nearby military base in Parchin district, said Davood Abdi, head of the defense ministry's public relations office.

The fire was brought under control and no casualties had been reported, he said, adding that the cause of the blast is under investigation.

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations said an abandoned oil tanker moored off the coast of Yemen loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude oil is at risk of rupture or exploding, causing massive environmental damage to Red Sea marine life, desalination factories and international shipping routes.

25 June 2020; MEMO: Israeli police on Sunday detained five Palestinian women and a guard at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, Anadolu Agency reported.

Israeli police have not revealed the reason behind the arrest of the six Palestinians.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, Israel has arrested more than 750 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, including women and children, since the start of the year.

25 June 2020; MEMO: Lebanon has the highest pollution linked death rate in the Middle East, a Greenpeace report published yesterday has revealed.

According to the study, entitled “Toxic Air: The Price of Fossil Fuels”, the estimated number of deaths in Lebanon attributable to fossil fuels was 2,700 in 2018 – a rate of four deaths per 10,000 people.

25 June 2020; MEMO: The case of convicted sex offender and child rapist Jeffrey Epstein has taken another dramatic twist. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has been named in sealed court filings, along with several close associates of the deceased financier, of having sex with one of the underage girls Epstein trafficked.

RAMALLAH, June 25 (NNN-PNN) – Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ishtaye reiterated on Wednesday that, all forms of Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank lands are “unacceptable.”

Ishtaye made the remarks in a meeting with Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, and Gerald Rockenschaub, head of WHO office in the occupied Palestinian territories.