Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed concerns over the test launch of a nuclear ballistic missile by France, official IRNA news agency reported.

The Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi described the launch of a new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads by the French Navy as "incompatible with Article 6 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and France's commitment to nuclear disarmament treaty."

20 June 2020; MEMO: Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Hossam Zaki revealed that the general secretariat received a request from the Egyptian delegation to hold an emergency meeting at the level of foreign ministers, to discuss developments in Libya.

20 June 2020; MEMO: Egypt on Friday called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene to restart talks on the $4 billion hydroelectric dam being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile near the border with Sudan.

20 June 2020; MEMO: The Libyan army said Saturday 190 corpses have been found in mass graves south of Tripoli and the city of Tarhuna since June 5, reports Anadolu Agency.

In a statement, the army said 106 bodies, including children and women, were found with signs of torture inside a hospital morgue in Tarhuna on June 5.

20 June 2020; MEMO: The Saudi Ministry of Interior has confirmed that journalist Hamid Al-Ghabin was stripped of his citizenship not due to his support of Israel, but for possessing false documents relating to his citizenship.

20 June 2020; MEMO: In response to the “misleading” remarks of United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials that it rejects proposals to solve the crisis with its neighbours, Qatar announced on Friday that it: “Has always asserted its openness to unconditional dialogue to solve the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) crisis.”

TEHRAN, June 20 (NNN-IRNA) – The Iranian foreign ministry, on Friday, condemned the anti-Iran resolution of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as “unconstructive.”

In a statement, Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, dismissed “the political and non-technical resolution” of the IAEA, noting, Iran has had the highest level of cooperation with the IAEA.

The issuance of the resolution is a “completely unconstructive and disappointing move,” said Mousavi.

TEHRAN, June 20 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iranian foreign ministry, on Friday, confirmed the death of a fugitive judge in Romania, Press TV reported.

The Iranian judge, identified as Gholamreza Mansouri, apparently fell out of a window, in the Duke Hotel in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, on Friday, according to preliminary reports.

Mansouri had been to Iran’s Embassy in Bucharest, to discuss possible ways to return to Iran, Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, said, Friday.

RAMALLAH/GAZA, June 20 (NNN-WAFA) – Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on Friday, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, against the Israeli plan of annexing large parts of the West Bank lands.

Palestinian sources and eyewitnesses said, dozens of demonstrators joined a rally in the Jordan Valley area, which is threatened to be annexed by Israel, amid an intensive presence of the Israeli army.

RABAT, June 20 (NNN-MAP) – Morocco, on Friday, reported 539 new COVID-19 cases, the biggest single-day increase so far, taking the number of infections in the country, since Mar 2, to 9,613.

The Ministry of Health said, 457 new cases were found in industrial units, specialised in packaging strawberries in the agricultural town of Lalla Mimouna, near the northern city of Moulay Bousselham.

The whole region was placed under quarantine on Friday, with more than 20 agro-industrial units closed, according to local media.