Middle East & North Africa

CAIRO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The principles of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are almost identical to those of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they both seek to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The BRI is a practical implementation of the SDGs and turns them from local to international, for the UN set the goals but did not outline a cooperation mechanism between states to achieve them," said Sharaf.

TEHRAN, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The deputy commander of Iran's Navy said an Iranian naval fleet will be sent to the Atlantic Ocean for a five-month mission in early 2019, official IRNA news agency reported Friday.

"The Atlantic Ocean is a long route, and it is likely that the mission would take five months to complete," Touraj Hassnai Moqaddam told IRNA.

"Iranian Sahand destroyer will accompany the fleet," he added, without providing more details.

04 Jan 2019; AFP: Saudi prosecutors sought the death penalty for five of 11 defendants charged with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as their high-profile trial opened in Riyadh on Thursday.

The prosecution also said it was awaiting a response to two formal letters requesting evidence from Turkey, where Khashoggi was murdered inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate on October 2 in a case that shocked the world.

TASS, January 3. At least eleven people have been killed as a result of the international coalition’s strike on a settlement in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, the SANA news agency reported on Thursday.

It is reported that all the people killed were members of one family.

The international coalition against the IS terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) was formed on the initiative of the United States during the NATO summit that took place on September 4-5, 2014 in Wales, UK.

TEHRAN, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Friday that the launch of space rockets does not breach UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

"Iran's launch of space vehicles, missile tests are NOT in violation of Resolution 2231. The U.S. is in material breach of the same as such it is in no position to lecture anyone on it", Zarif tweeted.

The Iranian minister's reaction followed the remark of the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, on Thursday about Iran's planned imminent launch of Space Launch Vehicles (SLV).

DAMASCUS, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Cautious calm prevails Syria's northern city of Manbij amid consecutive withdrawal of hundreds of Turkey-backed rebels from its surrounding, a war monitor reported on Thursday.

Aside from the hundreds of Turkey-backed rebels, tens of Kurdish-led fighters have also withdrawn from inside Manbij, a contested city that was about to be a flashpoint battlefield between the Turkey-backed rebels and the Kurdish-led ones.

BEIRUT, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Caretaker Economy Minister Raed Khoury insisted Wednesday that Lebanon should participate in Syria's reconstruction and benefit from this "huge opportunity", local media reported.

"We should take part in Syria's reconstruction which will witness the participation of all regional countries," Khoury was quoted by Akhbar Al Yawm local agency as saying.

Khoury noted that Lebanon should benefit from Syria's reconstruction, especially after Lebanon has paid "a big cost" as a result of the war in the neighboring country.

JERUSALEM; 02 Jan 2019; AA: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lobbied the Honduran president to move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

This came during a joint meeting between Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in Brazil on the sidelines of the inauguration of new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

HATAY, Turkey; 01 Jan 2019; AA: Over 40,000 Syrians left Turkey over the last year for their hometowns liberated from terrorists in northwestern Syria.

Taking refuge in Turkey due to civil war in Syria, a total of 40,574 Syrians from different parts of Turkey used the Cilvegozu border gate in southern Hatay province to go to Syria’s terror-free areas of Idlib region.

Syrians headed to their homeland after legal procedures at the border.

KHARTOUM, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Central Bank of Sudan said on Tuesday that it intends to reduce the country's inflation rate to 27.1 percent in 2019.

"The policies of the Central Bank of Sudan for 2019 intend to achieve monetary and financial stability to realize sustainable growth," Mohamed Khair al-Zubair, governor of Sudan's central bank, said at a press conference in the capital Khartoum.

The central bank hopes to "contribute to achieving a real growth rate in GDP estimated at about 5.1 percent," he added.