Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI, July 29 (Reuters) - Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Thursday named ambassadors to Egypt and Libya, his office said, as the Gulf Arab state moves to improve ties with some regional states.

Salem bin Mubarak Al-Shafi was named envoy to Egypt, while Khalid Mohammed Al-Dosari was appointed for Libya.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed in January to end a dispute that saw them boycott Qatar since 2017 over charges it supports terrorism, a reference to Islamist groups, which Doha denies.

ISTANBUL, July 29 (Reuters) - Three people were found dead as a massive forest fire burned for a second day in southern Turkey on Thursday, the country's AFAD disaster agency and agriculture minister said, with efforts to rescue others and extinguish the blaze continuing.

More than 100 other people had to be evacuated, required medical treatment or suffered damage to property as a result of the fire.

BEIRUT, July 29 (Reuters) - Ibrahim Hoteit lost his younger brother, Tharwat, in the huge explosion that ripped through the port of Beirut last August. He went around hospitals collecting body parts, starting with Tharwat's scalp, and buried his remains in a small coffin.

Nearly a year later, Hoteit, a spokesperson for families of more than 200 people who died in the disaster, is still trying to call to account those he says are responsible for allowing the accident to happen.

KUWAIT CITY, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) will enhance cooperation with Kuwait to face health challenges, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the organization said here on Wednesday.

At a press conference held in Kuwait City, the visiting WHO chief expressed appreciation to Kuwait for its pioneering humanitarian role in supporting the organization and its health activities.

"I visited the WHO office in Kuwait that was opened last month, which was a milestone in our partnership," he said.

28 July 2021; MEMO: Morocco has arrested an Uyghur activist following a warrant issued by China accusing him of terrorism.

Concerns are growing that BelgiumUyghur/ will now be extradited to China, which has used the pretext of terrorism, or counterterrorism, to crackdown on Uyghurs in East Turkestan.

28 July 2021; MEMO: Speaker of the Tunisian Parliament, Rached Ghannouchi, announced that his Ennahda party is seeking to form a national front to counter the decisions recently taken by Tunisian President Kais Saied.

28 July 2021; MEMO: Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati today said that he hoped to form a government in the "near future", Reuters reports.

28 July 2021; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday condemned the European Union's statement on the partial reopening of the Maras region in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Anadolu news agency reported.

28 July 2021; MEMO: Turkish, Azerbaijani and Pakistani parliament speakers accepted the Baku Declaration in a ceremony held at the Azerbaijani Parliament yesterday, Anadolu reports.

Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop and his Pakistani and Azerbaijani counterparts Asad Qaiser and Sahiba Gafarova, signed the declaration following a trilateral meeting.

The declaration strengthens cooperation between the three countries' parliaments and further enhances their political ties, among other issues.

28 July 2021; MEMO: Algeria has deported more than 1,200 West African migrants, including Nigerians, to Niger since the reopening of land borders between the two countries on 14 July, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced Monday.