Middle East & North Africa

ISTANBUL, June 9 (Reuters) - Turkish security forces seized $1 billion of counterfeit money in Istanbul and arrested six people involved in the operation, including one Ghanian and three Swedish nationals, the governor's office said on Friday.

Gendarmerie forces tracked the suspects to a storage space in Istanbul's Kagithane district, where they seized the fake $100 bills meant to be sent to African countries, the office said.

The suspects' homes were searched and their cash and jewellery confiscated. The Swedish and Ghanian consulates were notified.

AMMAN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Jordan and Egypt Saturday inked an agreement aimed at bolstering cooperation in the realm of gas infrastructure.

As per the deal, Egypt will utilize the floating storage vessel located at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Port in Aqaba, Jordan for gas processing. In return, Jordan will receive liquefied natural gas from Egypt and will, when required, pump back a portion of the natural gas through existing pipelines between the two nations.

The signing ceremony was attended by Jordanian Energy Minister Saleh Kharabsheh and his counterpart Tarek El-Molla.

SANAA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni government forces shot down two Houthi drones in the central province of Marib on Saturday, according to Yemen TV.

The drones were intercepted and shot down while flying towards army positions in the western part of the province, the national public television said, citing a statement from the army.

The Houthi group has yet to comment on the incident.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — An explosion at a rocket and explosives plant in Turkey caused a building to collapse on Saturday, killing all five workers inside, an official said.

The explosion occurred at around 8:45 a.m. at the compound of the state-owned Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, on the outskirts of the capital, Ankara, Gov. Vasip Sahin told reporters.

Sahin said the explosion was likely to have been caused by a chemical reaction during the production of dynamite. Prosecutors have launched a formal investigation, he said.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Police in Somalia say nine people, including three soldiers, were killed in Friday night’s extremist attack on a beachside hotel in the capital, Mogadishu.

The police statement said 10 other people were wounded while 84 people were rescued from the hourslong assault that ended early Saturday morning.

Al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Somalia-based extremist group is known for carrying out attacks on hotels and other high-profile locations in Mogadishu, usually starting with a suicide bombing.

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria announced Saturday that hundreds of fighters with the Islamic State group held in prisons around the region will be put on trial after their home countries refused to repatriate them.

The statement by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria said it still calls for the creation of an international tribunal to put those fighters on trial. It called on the United Nations, international rights groups and local organizations to help facilitate the trials.

Thane, Jun 10 (PTI) Three days after the chopped body parts of a woman were recovered from a flat of a building in Maharashtra's Thane district, the residents of this housing complex say they are still in a state of shock and yet to come to terms with the fact that such a horrific incident occurred right where they live.

09 June 2023; MEMO: A large Muslim charity, suing those who charged it funded terrorist groups, won an out-of-court settlement against its accusers, it was reported Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

The defendants also retracted their claims as part of the settlement.

09 June 2023; MEMO: Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed a former Wall Street banker, Hafize Gaye Erkan, as the country's new Central Bank Governor – another move that could potentially mark a policy pivot away from economic unorthodoxy, Reuters reports.

According to the report, Erkan, Turkiye's first female Central Bank chief, was a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and co-CEO at First Republic Bank.

09 June 2023; MEMO: India, France and the United Arab Emirates have concluded the first-ever trilateral maritime exercise this week, the Indian Defence Ministry said on Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

The trilateral cooperation "achieved another milestone in history" as the exercise, which was held on 7-8 June, concluded, the Ministry said.