Middle East & North Africa

12 Nov 2018; AFP: Saudi Arabia's energy minister called Monday for a global output cut of one million barrels per day to re-balance the market, as Riyadh unveiled plans to cut production by 500,000 bpd from December.

"The technical analysis we reviewed yesterday shows that we need a reduction approaching one million bpd to balance the market," Khalid al-Falih told an energy conference in Abu Dhabi.

The proposed reduction is from October production levels, Falih said.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says an officer was killed and another was moderately wounded during an operation in southeast Gaza Strip, involving an exchange of gunfire.

The early Monday statement followed a rare late-night burst of violence in which seven Palestinians were also killed. The flare-up came as Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers had appeared to be making progress toward ratcheting down months of border violence.

Israel’s military later said the operation had ended.

ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Armed confrontations between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah left around 80 dead within the past 24 hours, local sources said on Sunday.

A medical source based in the city confirmed to Xinhua that "the majority of the killed people were Houthi fighters targeted by Saudi-led airstrikes during the ongoing fighting in Hodeidah."

11 Nov 2018; AFP: Major oil producers meet in Abu Dhabi on Sunday to consider reverting to output cuts after a sharp slide in crude prices revived fears of a 2014-style crash.

Oil prices shed a fifth of their value in just one month after surging to a four-year high in early October, driven by a combination of factors centred on higher supply and fears of sluggish demand.

Brent crude dropped below $70 a barrel on Friday for the first time since April while the New York's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sank below $60 a barrel, a nine-month low.

10 Nov 2018; AFP: Turkey has shared recordings linked to the murder last month of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Riyadh, Washington and other capitals, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday.

"We gave them the recordings, we gave them to Saudi Arabia, we gave them to Washington, to the Germans, to the French, to the British," he said in a televised speech.

"They listened to the conversations which took place here, they know," he said, but added that they were not accompanied by any written documents.

PETRA, Jordan (AP) — The death toll from flash floods in Jordan rose to 12 on Saturday and the kingdom’s main tourist attraction, the ancient city of Petra, was closed for cleanup after what local officials said was the biggest deluge in the area in decades.

Friday’s floods struck several areas of Jordan. Rescuers continued the search for missing people around the Wala reservoir in central Jordan on Saturday. In the southern town of Maan, authorities opened a shelter for dozens of people whose homes were surrounded by water.

BEIRUT, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Saturday that his party will retaliate for any Israeli attack on Lebanon.

"We will inevitably respond to any attack against Lebanon and we will not accept any underestimation by the enemy of the country's power as it used to do in the past," he said in a televised speech marking the party's "Martyrs' Day."

Nasrallah said that "Hezbollah has a tremendous rocket capability and the enemy will not dare to attack Lebanon because of this power."

"Any attack will be faced automatically," he said.

TEHRAN, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran's ambassador to the United Nations urged global condemnation of the recent U.S. unilateral sanctions against the Islamic republic, Press TV reported on Saturday.

"U.S. unilateral withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal and restoration of its sanctions on Iran is a challenge to the international law and global order," Gholamali Khoshroo said in a letter to the UN Security Council on Friday.

The global community "should not allow the United States to pursue its unilateral, arrogant and self-centered policy," he said.

Abu Dhabi, Nov 10 (AFP) Pakistan beat New Zealand by six wickets in the second day-night international in Abu Dhabi on Friday but the match was overshadowed by a worrying injury to opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq who was taken to hospital after being hit on the head by a short ball.

Imam, on 16, was forced to retire after a short delivery from fast bowler Lockie Ferguson hit the grille of his helmet, making him dizzy before he fell to the ground.

His eyes were closed but he did not lose consciousness.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. The bodies of over 8,000 Syrians killed in bombing raids by the US-led coalition have been found in mass graves in Syria’s Raqqa after the rubble was partially cleared away, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.