Middle East & North Africa

05 June 2023; MEMO: The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has signed an agreement which gives a company in the UAE exclusive export rights of locally extracted gold for 25 years as well as a preferential tax rate of 0.25 per cent. The deal was apparently finalised late last year in an effort to eliminate the Congolese informal, or artisanal, mining sector.

05 June 2023; MEMO: A huge sandstorm hit Egypt last week, killing four people and injuring five others when a billboard fell onto the 6th October Bridge.

During the spring, Egypt is regularly hit by the khamisin – 50 – hot, dry windstorms which carry sand from the desert and can last for up to 50 days.

The storm can cause severe headaches, blocked and runny noses and red, irritated eyes.

Citizens are advised to stay at home whereever possible until the storm has passed.

05 June 2023; MEMO: Members of the OPEC+ alliance yesterday agreed to implement a voluntary cut in oil production until the end of 2024 instead of the previous date scheduled for the end of 2023.

The members said in a statement that the voluntary cut is in addition to a mandatory cut of 1.4 million barrels per day, which will start early next year and continue for a full year.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday that Sweden has met all of Turkiye's demands to join the military alliance, urging Ankara not to veto Stockholm's bid in a meeting scheduled next month in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.

"Membership will make Sweden safer but also make NATO and Turkey stronger," Stoltenberg told journalists in Istanbul yesterday after meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his newly appointed Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan.

05 June 2023; MEMO: The CEO of Open AI, the company behind the popular ChatGPT bot, has refused to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his far-right government's planned judicial overhaul, local media revealed on Sunday.

ANKARA, June 4 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday left for Pakistan after concluding his two-day official visit to Turkiye.

At the Ankara International airport, the prime minister was seen off by senior officials of Turkiye’s ministry of foreign affairs, members of Turkish parliament, Ambassador of Pakistan Dr Yousaf Junaid and other members of the embassy, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.

At the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister attended his inauguration ceremony in Ankara on June 3.

JERUSALEM, June 4 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called the killing of three soldiers by a member of the Egyptian security services a terrorist attack and demanded a full joint investigation with Cairo.

Egypt says it is working with Israel to investigate the incident which occurred on Saturday.

"Israel relayed a clear message to the Egyptian government. We expect that the joint investigation will be exhaustive and thorough," Netanyahu told his cabinet in televised remarks.

ISTANBUL, June 4 (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) is closing in on a potentially record deal to sell 500 narrowbody A320-family jets to India's largest carrier, Indigo (INGL.NS), industry sources said on Sunday.

The European planemaker has emerged as front-runner for an order eclipsing Air India's historic provisional purchase of 470 jets in February, the sources said on the sidelines of an airline industry meeting in Istanbul.

Airbus and Boeing are also competing in talks to sell 25 wide-body jets to the same airline, they said.

ISTANBUL, June 4 (Reuters) - Turkey, Sweden and Finland will meet later this month to try to overcome ojections that have delayed Sweden's NATO membership bid, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey in March ratified Finland's bid for membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but still objects to Sweden joining the alliance, as does Hungary.

Turkey has said Stockholm harbours members of militant groups it considers to be terrorists.

TEHRAN, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign minister expressed hope that the recent prisoner swap between Iran and Belgium could be an effective step to promote bilateral ties and Iran-Europe relations.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone conversation with his Belgian counterpart Hadja Lahbib, according to a statement published on the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website.