Middle East & North Africa

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Turkey’s president says authorities are investigating the movements and possible contacts in Turkey of the man suspected of attacking two mosques in New Zealand.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan also demanded that New Zealand ensure that the perpetrators of the attack be punished.

State broadcaster TRT says the suspect, Brenton Tarrant, visited Turkey twice in 2016 — on March 17-20 and Sept. 13 to Oct. 25. The station has released a security camera image of him arriving at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport.

RIYADH, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that one of its nationals was injured in the attack that targeted two mosques in New Zealand.

The Saudi embassy in New Zealand revealed in a statement posted on its Twitter account that the citizen sustained minor injuries without revealing its identity.

It called upon Saudis in the Christchurch city where the attack took place to be cautious, follow the local authorities' instructions and stay at home until situations are back to normal.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Global port operator DP World says its profit rose 10 percent in 2018 despite worldwide tensions over trade amid a trade war between China and the U.S. and fears about Britain leaving the European Union.

The port operator on Thursday reported profits of around $1.29 billion, up from around $1.17 billion the year before.

Its revenue for the year was $5.6 billion, up from $4.7 billion the year prior. That’s a revenue increase of 19.8 percent for the port operator.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said Thursday it lost $1.28 billion in 2018, the third-straight year the government-owned long-haul carrier has lost over a billion dollars.

Since 2016, Etihad has lost a total of $4.75 billion as its strategy of aggressively buying stakes in airlines from Europe to Australia to compete against Emirates and fellow rival Qatar Airways exposed the company to major losses.

13 Mar 2019; AFP: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday blasted Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu as a "tyrant" who "massacred" Palestinian children as the two leaders exchanged insults in their latest spat.

Erdogan was responding to earlier comments from Netanyahu who slammed the Turkish leader as a "dictator" and "a joke", after a day of tit-for-tat exchanges between government officials in both countries.

Beirut, Mar 14 (AFP) Russian air strikes killed at least 13 civilians, including six children, Wednesday in Idlib province, in the first such raids since a September truce deal, a monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said around 60 people were also wounded in the air strikes that struck several areas in the northwestern province, which is Syria's last major rebel bastion.

Jammu, Mar 13 (PTI) A joint military exercise between India and Royal Army of Oman commenced on Wednesday at Jabel regiment headquarters, Nizwa, in the Arab country, a defence spokesman said.

A 60-member strong Indian Army contingent, based in northern command headquarters at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, is taking part in the military exercise 'Al-Nagah III', he said.

ANTALYA, 12 Mar 2019; AA: Turkey's foreign minister on Tuesday called on the global community to stand against Israeli aggression in the sacred places of Islam.

"Unfortunately, today, Israel's aggression has increased with encouragement from the U.S. We talk about all these issues and will not give up our sacred and national causes," Mevlut Cavusoglu said, speaking at a public gathering in the Mediterranean province of Antalya.

13 Mar 2019; DW: Some 3,000 members of "Islamic State" have left the group's last holdout in Syria to surrender to Kurdish-led forces.

"[The] number of Daesh (IS) members [who have] surrendered to us since yesterday evening has risen to 3,000," Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman Mustefa Bali said Tuesday.

The SDF temporarily halted airstrikes and shelling on IS-controlled Baghouz in eastern Syria on Tuesday to allow people to leave the village to hand themselves over.

12 Mar 2019; DW: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said on Monday that he would not run for a fifth term after weeks of demonstrations across the North African country.

The presidency also announced via the official APS news agency that the country's national election, originally scheduled for April 18, would be postponed pending a national conference on political and constitutional reform.