Middle East & North Africa

ANKARA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkey "neutralized" at least 24 members of Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria after a Turkish soldier was killed in a missile attack in the area, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

The missile attack was launched in Turkey's Operation Olive Branch zone in northern Syria,

Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralize" to imply "terrorists" were killed, wounded, or captured in security operations.

03 May 2022; MEMO: Turkish and Armenian envoys for the normalisation of ties between the two countries reaffirmed their goal of "achieving full normalisation," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, reports Anadolu Agency.

"The special representatives reaffirmed the declared goal of achieving full normalisation between their respective countries through this process," the ministry said in a statement following the third meeting of Turkish and Armenian envoys in the Austrian capital Vienna.

04 May 2022; MEMO: A Swedish-Iranian national sentenced to death in Iran on charges of spying for Israeli intelligence is to be executed this month, Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency said on Wednesday, citing sources, reports Reuters.

BEIRUT, May 2 (NNN-NNA) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is willing to help Lebanon overcome its severe crisis, said IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, emphasising the importance of implementing reforms in a timely manner.

“Timely implementation of agreed-upon reforms is vital to obtaining the much-needed funding from the international community,” Georgieva said, according to a statement released by Lebanon’s Council of Ministers yesterday.

BAGHDAD, May 2 (NNN-NINA) – Six rockets targeted yesterday, an area in Erbil province in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, but caused no casualties, the regional Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) said in a statement.

The rockets were fired from al-Hamdaniya, a town 60 km west of the city of Erbil, and landed near the al-Zab River, outside the Kurdish town of Khabat in Erbil province, the Kurdish CTS statement said.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.

ADDIS ABABA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Monday disclosed it has only received 22 percent of the 351 million U.S. dollars it requires to meet the needs of 9.9 million people in Ethiopia.

In a Humanitarian Situation report it published, UNICEF stated it needs the funds to meet the needs of 9.9 million people impacted by drought conditions in four regions of Ethiopia.

The UNICEF funding appeal to Ethiopia also includes funds needed to help 4.45 million children in Ethiopia.

New Delhi, May 3 (PTI) Amid a controversy over the use of loudspeakers, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta on Tuesday said the Delhi government has not yet complied with the Supreme Court orders regarding the removal of loudspeakers from mosques and other religious places.

According to the norms, loudspeakers are prohibited within a circumference of 100 metres of silent zones such as hospitals, courts and schools among others.

02 May 2022; MEMO: Israel's government on Monday ordered communications firms to step up their cyber security efforts in the wake of a rise in attempted hacking attacks, reports Reuters.

New regulations are currently being implemented in which mandatory and unified standards will have to be met, the Communications Ministry and Israel's National Cyber Directorate said.

02 May 2022; MEMO: Western officials have largely lost hope the Iran nuclear deal can be resurrected, sources familiar with the matter said, forcing them to weigh how to limit Iran's atomic program even as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has divided the big powers, reports Reuters.

While they have not completely given up on the pact, under which Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions, there is a growing belief it may be beyond salvation.

03 May 2022; MEMO: The death of Egyptian economic researcher Ayman Hadhoud requires a "thorough, transparent and credible" investigation, the US State Department said on Monday, after Hadhoud died in a Cairo psychiatric hospital where he was sent by the security services that detained him, reports Reuters.