Middle East & North Africa

CAIRO, Mar 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – The U.S. military invasion of Iraq 20 years ago, was largely framed in news media, to meet strategic objectives, and the skewed media narratives continue to hide many truths, said an opinion piece published on the website of Al Jazeera.

In the article titled: “How U.S. propaganda won Iraq’s ‘battlespace’,” the columnists said, the United States has utilised information operations as tools of wars, since World War I.

DUBAI, March 24 (Reuters) - Emirates Airline has a "substantial" amount of ticket sale revenue trapped in Nigeria and has made only slow progress in repatriating blocked funds out of Africa's biggest economy, it said on Friday.

A day earlier Nigeria's aviation minister Hadi Sirika told reporters that the Dubai-based carrier had received most of its funds out of Nigeria and had about $35 million that still needed to be released.

NAHRAN OMAR, Iraq (AP) — The oil is pumped 24 hours a day several meters from Raghed Jasim’s home in Iraq’s crude-rich southern heartland. Gas flares from the field light the night sky bright orange, spewing acrid smoke; when the wind picks up, the 40-year old’s clothes are coated black.

For Iraq’s poorest, evidence of the country’s monumental oil wealth is inescapable. So is the knowledge that very little of it trickles down to them.

BEIRUT (AP) — Saudi Arabia is in talks with Syria to reopen its embassy in the war-torn nation for the first time in a decade, state television in the kingdom reported late Thursday, the latest diplomatic reshuffling in the region.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to “mend the rift” in a nation deeply divided over his proposed overhaul of the country’s judiciary. But he offered no details on how he intends to do so and gave no indication that he would slow down the plan.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: Israel's Defence chief will call on Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to halt his disputed judicial overhaul, Israeli media reported, in a move that could herald a split in the right-wing government as nationwide protests ramped up on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets, intensifying a months-long campaign decrying the proposed overhaul. Police trying to clear a highway in Tel Aviv fired a water cannon and carried some protesters away.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: Increasing trade between Turkiye and Africa to $4.5 billion is the objective set by the new initiative, Global Forum for Intersectoral Cooperation, African News reports.

According to the report, the initiative aims to increase the notoriety of Turkish SMEs on the continent. Its approach is innovative.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: Israel's prime minister will be departing for a planned visit to the UK hours after originally planned, due to continuing protests against his government's judicial overhaul plans, local reports said on Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to visit London late Thursday, but his departure was delayed until 4.00 am (0200GMT), according to Amichai Stein, a journalist with public broadcaster, KAN.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: Khaldoun Al Mubarak, a Senior Advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), President Mohammed bin Zayed, has recently visited Israel and delivered a "strongly worded message" to officials there, Israel's Kan 11 channel reported on Wednesday.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: Germany plans to have as much as 70.7 million tons, per year, of LNG import capacity by 2030 as the country faces the risk out of gas, Argus reports.

According to the report, Germany no longer receives Russian gas via Nord Stream, which was sabotaged in the autumn of 2022.