Middle East & North Africa

BETHLEHEM, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Israeli occupation forces demolished Monday four houses that belong to Palestinians in the south Bethlehem town Al-Walaja in the West Bank.

Palestinian sources said that three homes were leveled to the ground by Israeli authorities, while they forced the owner of a fourth one to demolish her own home at her own expense to avoid a substantial fine imposed by the Israeli Jerusalem municipality.

The owner of the fourth home, Hanan Razem, stopped the process of her home demolition after neighbors intervened to help her.

CAIRO, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian-French mission discovered one of the oldest villages in Egypt's Nile Delta, the country's Antiquities Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"The joint mission excavated the remains of a Neolithic settlement at the bottom level of Tell el-Samara site, whose occupation lasted until the 2nd dynasty of ancient Egypt," Ayman Ashmawi, head of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector, said in a the statement.

TASS, September 2. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that his country is not willing to ask anybody for permission to buy S-400 defense missile systems from Russia, the Milliyet newspaper reported.

"We have made an agreement with Russia on S-400, and some are concerned by that. I’m sorry, but we’re not going to ask anyone for permission," the newspaper quotes Erdogan.

On August 31, the Turkish leader said that Turkey hopes to receive the missile systems "as soon as possible".

ANKARA, Sep. 2 (Xinhua) -- As the Turkish-U.S. ties remain deeply strained, Ankara's relationship with Europe is steadily warming, where cooperation seems to have taken the upper hand over confrontation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to pay a state visit to Germany in late September, the first of its kind in four years.

Meanwhile, the Turkish leader is also likely to host a summit between France, Germany and Russia, in the absence of the United States, to discuss the Syria issue.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Russia will hold drills in the Mediterranean Sea on September 1-8 with the involvement of 25 warships and 30 aircraft, the Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

In accordance with the training plan of the Russian Armed Forces, large-scale drills of the grouping of forces (troops) of the Russian Navy and the Aerospace Force will be conducted on September 1-8, 2018 in the Mediterranean Sea under the direction of Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Korolyov," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Damascus does not have chemical weapons, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem reiterated at talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.

"As for accusations concerning the use of chemical weapons, we don’t have them. We do not use chemical weapons," Muallem said, adding that "we don’t need it because we have been achieving victories on the battlefields."

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. The creation of quasi-state local government bodies in eastern Syria by the Americans can result in attempts to split the country and contravenes the UN Security Council’s decisions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters at a news conference on Thursday following meeting with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.

AIN SOKHNA, Egypt, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) started on Tuesday the main phase of the construction of a new terminal basin in Sokhna Port south of the Suez Canal northeast of Egypt.

The project was assigned to CHEC by the Sokhna branch of the Emirati corporation DP World, the main investor and container operator in the port located at the Gulf of Suez.

At a launching ceremony, CHEC said it will deliver the "Basin 2" project in fewer than 12 months ahead of the deadline.

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA; 28.08.2018; AA: Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke with his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday and voiced Ankara's desire to further strengthen ties with Islamabad, according to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said: "Mr. Cavusoglu expressed a strong desire of the government of Turkey to strengthen the existing close and friendly relations between the two countries.

JERUSALEM; 29 Aug 2018; AA: A former Israeli soldier who shot dead an injured Palestinian said that he has “no regret” for his action.

“I know what I have done was right, and I go with it all the way with my head up,” Elor Azaria said in an interview with Israel Hayoum newspaper, excerpts of which were released on Wednesday.

"I do not regret it,” he said “and if time goes back to that moment in Hebron. I will do exactly what I did, because it was the right thing to do.”