Middle East & North Africa

RIYADH, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Opec producers and allies have agreed to cut output by around 10% to counter the slump in demand caused by coronavirus lockdowns.

The group said it would cut output in May and June by 10 million barrels to help prop up prices. The cuts will then be eased gradually until April 2022.

Opec+, made up of Opec producers and allies including Russia, held talks on Thursday via video conference.

Talks were complicated by disagreements between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

TRIPOLI, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The forces of the UN-backed government of Libya on Thursday accused the rival eastern-based army of attacking a hospital in the capital Tripoli treating COVID-19 patients for the second time in a week.

"Commander of eastern-based army launched a Grad missile attack on medicines stores of Al-Khadra General Hospital that contain equipment to protect against the coronavirus," the UN-backed government's forces said in a statement.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A proposed reduction in oil production by OPEC and other oil-producing countries including Russia involves a 10 million barrels per day cut until July, then an 8 million barrels per day cut through the end of the year, Saudi Arabia said Friday as the deal hung in the balance.

TASS, April 9: The Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned the report compiled by the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on alleged use of combat chemical weapons by the Syrian armed forces on the town of Ltamenah in March 2017, the ministry said in a statement published on Thursday and quoted as saying by SANA news agency.

"The conclusions cited in this report were fabricated and are aimed at putting forth false accusations against the Syrian government," the ministry stressed.

09 April 2020; MEMO: The grandson of the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin apologised on Wednesday for wishing in a tweet that the chairman of the Likud Party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would catch the coronavirus and be sick, spending the rest of his life in prison.

09 April 2020; MEMO: The Bahraini government announced yesterday that it will spend 215 million Bahraini dinars ($570 million) on the salaries of 100,000 employees working in the private sector for a period of three months, to mitigate the economic repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bahraini Minister of Labour and Social Development, Jamil Humeidan, said employers wishing to take advantage of the government’s initiative should register on the General Authority for Social Insurance’s website.

09 April 2020; MEMO: Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Adnan Al-Zurfi has resigned his candidacy this morning after he failed to gather enough support to form a government.

Al-Zurfi announced his resignation on Twitter, saying: “I offer my apologies first to everyone who put trust in us.”

09 April 2020; MEMO: The head of Israel’s Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) alliance, Benny Gantz, said yesterday that he is still willing to form a “national emergency government” with the Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu, but “not at any cost”.

ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish government plans to send draft legislation temporarily banning layoffs to parliament early next week, to curb an expected jump in unemployment due to the spread of coronavirus, two senior officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Many people have had to stop work as authorities closed shopping centres, bars, cafes and other businesses in an attempt to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Reuters reported Turkish officials as saying on Wednesday that the draft legislation would temporarily ban layoffs for at least three months.

DUBAI/MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC and Russia will discuss record oil output cuts on Thursday to support prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis but talks are complicated by internal disagreements and the reluctance of the United States to join in any action.

Global fuel demand has plunged as much as 30% as measures to fight the virus have grounded aircraft, reduced vehicle usage and curbed economic activity.