Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, May 14 (NNN-IRNA) – Foreign investors would soon be able to apply for a five-year residency in Iran, based on regulations approved by the government last summer, Press TV reported, quoting the Iranian deputy interior minister as saying on Wednesday.

Application forms would be available in three languages through platforms run by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the Interior Ministry, Iran’s department on foreign investment, and the Central Bank of Iran.

ISTANBUL, May 14 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish police, on Wednesday, seized several valuable historical artefacts, at an operation in an auction house in central Istanbul, local media reported.

Police teams captured a total of 78 artefacts that belonged to the Seljuk, Ottoman, and Safavid eras in the auction house, at the upscale Nisantasi neighbourhood, on the European side of the city, according to the Sozcu daily.

CAIRO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's COVID-19 cases on Wednesday exceeded 143,000, while the tally in Iran crossed 112,000.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, rose to 143,114, while the death toll surged to 3,952 on Wednesday.

Turkey on Wednesday confirmed 1,639 new COVID-19 cases and 58 more deaths in the past 24 hours, according to Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military offered condolences Thursday to Iran over a friendly fire incident in the Islamic Republic that killed 19 of its troops, identifying the weapon used in the incident as an anti-ship cruise missile.

Iranian authorities on Monday said that a missile struck the Iranian navy vessel Konarak near the port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran in the Gulf of Oman. Authorities said the Konarak was too close to a target and was accidentally hit Sunday in an incident that also wounded 15 troops.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The CEO of the world’s busiest airport for international travel wants to get the globe flying again, but even he acknowledges everything remains up in the air during the coronavirus pandemic.

Paul Griffiths oversees what now is a much quieter Dubai International Airport, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates and crucial to East-West travel. The millions that once poured through the airport’s concourses are no longer flying as countries around the world enforce lockdowns and travel bans to fight the virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes.

13 May 2020; MEMO: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) yesterday announced that the civil war in Yemen has “substantially” deteriorated the country’s development.

“Yemen’s war pushed development back 21 years,” UNDP said on Twitter, adding that it the war “is disastrous in fighting communicable diseases like #COVID_19”, in reference to the coronavirus which has brought the global economy to its knees and forced many countries to impose nationwide lockdowns.

13 May 2020; MEMO: Forces loyal to the internationally recognised Yemeni government yesterday took back control of a military camp run by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Abyan Governorate, south of the country.

A government source who preferred not to be named said pro-government forces took back control of the Haidrat El-Sidr camp after violent confrontations with the STC militiamen in Abyan.

13 May 2020; MEMO: A Tunisian court has sentenced former presidential candidate and businessman Yassine Channoufi to five years imprisonment on charges of corruption and money laundering, Anadolu Agency reported.

The head of the Media and Communication Unit at the Court of First Instance in Tunis, Mohsen Dali, told the news agency that the competent criminal court also fined Channoufi nine million Tunisian dinars ($3 million) and set his probation at five years after his release.

13 May 2020; MEMO: The Iranian Shura Council yesterday approved an “urgent bill” aimed at confronting Israeli practices and preserving Palestinians rights, IRNA news agency reported.

According to the agency, the council unanimously voted in favour of the bill which includes 14 articles.

The head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Mojtaba Zonnour, said labelling the bill as “very urgent” allows the Shura Council to vote on it as early as next week.

13 May 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia on Monday issued a new system for the Public Prosecution and introduced an amendment to Article 112 of the Penal Procedures regulation.

The new system gives the public prosecution complete and independent powers to identify major crimes that require detention.

The Saudi government adopted the new system after consultations with the Ministry of Interior and the Presidency of State Security.