Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates, home to the world’s busiest international airport in Dubai, announced early Monday it was suspending all passenger flights and the transit of airline passengers in the country for two weeks to stymie the spread of a new virus.

Dubai’s airport is a vital hub connecting Europe and other Western nations with countries in Asia and Australia. Suspending transit flights there impacts travelers around the world.

22 March 2020; AFP: Confronted with a dizzying drop in prices, oil firms face a real challenge as they try to cut investment spending in order to survive a coronavirus-induced collapse in demand coupled with a Russia-Saudi Arabia price war.

Investment in oil exploration and production was set to hit just over half a trillion dollars this year according to the French research body IFPEN, as firms sought to maintain and expand output.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The first batch of protective and medical equipment donated by Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma was flown into the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday, as coronavirus cases in Africa rose above 1,100.

The virus has spread more slowly in Africa than in Asia or Europe but has a foothold in 41 African nations and two territories. So far it has claimed 37 lives across the continent of 1.3 billion people.

DAMASCUS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday issued a general amnesty involving crimes committed before March 22, state news agency SANA reported.

The presidential pardon excludes crimes of smuggling weapons and explosives as well as those who committed murders.

The amnesty will also not cover the fugitives.

Assad has issued many pardons during the nine-year-long Syrian war.

His last pardon was issued in September 2019.

22 Mar 2020; MEMO: A number of Palestinian doctors led Friday prayers in several mosques across the Gaza Strip to spread awareness about the coronavirus.

22 Mar 2020; MEMO: A total of 129 people in Iran have died of coronavirus over the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll up to 1,685, said an Iranian health official on Sunday.

According to Iranian state TV, Health Ministry Spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour said 1,028 new virus cases were found, raising the number of cases to 21,638.

He added that a total of 7,913 people who were treated for the virus have so far been discharged from hospital.

ISTANBUL, Mar 22 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey stepped up COVID-19 testing as the number of infected cases increased exponentially in recent days.

Turkey carried out more than 10,000 tests for COVID-19 so far, the country’s Health Minister, Fahrettin Koca, announced, voicing hope to increase the number of tests per day.

So far, Turkey announced 21 dead and 947 cases.

Turkey’s efforts to step up tests came, amid World Health Organisation Head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ call for all countries to be able to test all suspected cases, earlier this week.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader Sunday refused U.S. assistance to fight the new coronavirus, citing an unfounded conspiracy theory that the virus could be man-made by America.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments come as Iran faces crushing U.S. sanctions blocking the country from selling its crude oil and accessing international financial markets.

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Air raid sirens echoed across Jordan’s capital Saturday to mark the start of a three-day curfew, the latest mass lockdown in the Middle East aimed at containing the coronavirus, which has claimed another 123 lives in Iran, home to the region’s worst outbreak.

The latest deaths bring Iran’s overall toll to 1,556 amid 20,610 confirmed cases, according to figures released by the Health Ministry. Iran has faced widespread criticism for its lagging response to the outbreak, which has even infected and killed some senior officials.

21 March 2020; AFP: President Emmanuel Macron announced Saturday that Iran has freed a French researcher imprisoned in the Islamic republic after France released an Iranian threatened with extradition to the US.

Macron "is happy to announce the release of Roland Marchal, imprisoned in Iran since June 2019" but he "urges the Iranian authorities to immediately free" fellow researcher Fariba Adelkhah, his office said.