Middle East & North Africa

The Israeli occupation forces have detained a Palestinian Authority police officer over an alleged plan to assassinate an illegal settler leader in the occupied West Bank, local media have reported.

The police officer was named as Alaa Khaled Qatto. He was detained during an overnight incursion by the Israeli occupation forces in the Palestine refugee camp in Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank.

ANKARA, June 7. /TASS/: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday discussed the situation around the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky over the phone and suggested forming an international commission to investigate the incident with Russia's participation, the Turkish leader's office reported.

ANKARA, June 7. /TASS/: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday discussed the situation around the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky over the phone and suggested forming an international commission to investigate the incident with Russia's participation, the Turkish leader's office reported.

CAIRO, Jun 7 (NNN-MENA) – An agreement to build a wind power plant in Upper Egypt’s Sohag province, was signed yesterday, between Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) clean energy firm, Masdar.

Under the deal, which is worth over 10 billion U.S. dollars, the wind power plant is planned to have a production capacity of 10 gigawatts, said the Egyptian cabinet, in a statement.

JERUSALEM, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen rebuked on Wednesday U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for speaking out against the government's contested judiciary overhaul plan.

In an interview on Israel's state-owned Kan Bet Radio, Cohen chided Harris, saying that he believes she has not read the reform's bills. "I can tell you that if you ask her what bothers her about the reform, she won't be able to tell you even a single thing," he said.

BEIRUT, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon will partner in the Green Middle East project launched by Saudi Arabia, said Lebanese Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan on Wednesday, calling on more Arab countries to participate in the initiative.

"From now on, Lebanon will be part of this project... and we will work to play a positive role in dealing with the climate change and global warming issues," Hassan was quoted as saying by the National News Agency.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish lira tumbled to a fresh record low Wednesday, extending its slide against the U.S. dollar since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started his third term.

The lira weakened by around 7% on Wednesday, hitting 23.18 against the dollar. The decline took the currency’s loss since Erdogan’s inauguration Saturday and appointment of a new government to more than 8%. The currency has weakened by around 20% since the start of the year.

The lira also weakened by more than 7% against the euro on Wednesday.

06 June 2023; MEMO: Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant threatened on Tuesday to send Lebanon back to "the Stone Age" in a war with Hezbollah, local media have reported.

"I hear our enemies boasting about weapons they are developing," said Gallant. "For any such development, we have an even better response — by air, by sea and on land and through other means of attack and defence."

07 June 2023; MEMO: Media analysts and commentators in Israel have been discussing Iran's new hypersonic missile that was unveiled on Tuesday by the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Hossein Salami. It is said that the Fattah missile gives Iran a "significant" military edge in the region.

06 June 2023; MEMO: A group of Australian women and children trapped in detention camps in northeast Syria are taking the Australian government to court to try and secure repatriation.

The women argue that their detention is arbitrary, that Canberra has the power to free them and that they have a legal right to return to Australia.

Roughly 38,000 foreign nationals are held in two camps in northeast Syria – Roj and Al-Hawl.