Middle East & North Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia registered 693 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 306,810 as of Monday evening, the country's health ministry said.

Meanwhile, the ministry reported 16 new deaths and 1,501 more recoveries from the virus, bringing the national death toll to 4,660 and total recoveries to 276,078.

Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous nation, has so far reported the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the East Africa region.

DAMASCUS, Aug 30 (NNN-SANA) – Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, yesterday discussed economic cooperation with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, in the capital, Damascus.

Both sides discussed economic and trade cooperation, and ways to cope with the sanctions imposed by Western countries, mainly from the United States.

Talks between the two sides also focused on the latest regional and international developments.

JERUSALEM, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sought on Monday to play down any notion of a move towards renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinians after the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian meeting in years.

Hours after Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met, the main Israeli media outlets quoted "a source close to the prime minister" as saying: "There is no diplomatic process with the Palestinians, nor will there be one."

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar played an outsized role in U.S. efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan. Now the tiny Gulf Arab state is being asked to help shape what is next for Afghanistan because of its ties with both Washington and the Taliban, who are in charge in Kabul.

Kanpur: Strangely enough, the sale of idols for Ganesh Chaturthi beginning from Sept 10, will remain meagre due to the main reason of money matter with the crafters.

What goes around the market is that there will remain a shortage of big sized idols of lord Ganesha. It appears to have disappeared from the city markets, as the news reports go.

Reacting to this situation, the idol makers have stated that it was mainly the financial constraints that are compelling them to prepare small idols.

29 Aug 2021; MEMO: Yemen received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson on Sunday, roughly 151,000 doses, the health ministry said, reports Reuters.

The desperately poor country, where health infrastructure has been devastated by six years of war, received 360,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine in March through COVAX.

This shipment is the first batch of a total of 504,000 doses it is set to receive from the United States.

29 Aug 2021; MEMO: Turkey has risen to the world's top three in combat drone technology, the Turkish president said on Sunday, reports Anadolu Agency.

"With our unmanned combat aerial vehicle Akinci, Turkey has become one of the three most advanced countries in the world in this technology," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the delivery ceremony for the Bayraktar Akinci combat drone in the northwestern Tekirdag province.

30 Aug 2021; MEMO: Turkey is seeking an agreement with the Taliban similar to the one concluded in Libya, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Sunday.

"I cannot say that Turkey won't conclude an agreement with the Taliban as we did in Libya. We can do that," Erdogan told reporters in the Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo, stressing that it was "enough to find a partner worthy of negotiations."

29 Aug 2021; MEMO: At least 30 soldiers were killed and 60 wounded on Sunday in Houthi strikes on a military base belonging to forces of the Saudi-led coalition in southwest Yemen, a spokesman for the southern forces and medical sources said, reports Reuters.

The Houthis have carried out several attacks using armed drones and ballistic missiles on the al-Anad military base, Yemeni southern forces spokesman Mohamed al-Naqeeb said.

30 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Turkish defense and foreign ministers held a video call with their Qatari counterparts, the Turkish authorities said on Sunday, reports Anadolu Agency.

Turkey's National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met Qatar's Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani virtually to discuss the latest developments in Afghanistan, according to the National Defense Ministry.