Middle East & North Africa

BAGHDAD (AP) — A widespread power outage hit Iraq on Friday as temperatures reached scorching levels, affecting millions of Iraqis including in affluent areas in the capital and stirring concerns of widespread unrest.

Iraq’s grid was generating just over 4,000 Megawatts according to Ministry of Electricity data on Friday morning, less than the 20,000 MW the grid generates on average. The cuts have impacted Baghdad and southern provinces in particular.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s defense minister said Friday that negotiations over his country’s proposal to operate and secure the key international airport in Afghanistan are taking place.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey was discussing the plan with several countries. “There must be some political decisions at the United Nations and NATO, and an agreement must be reached with the Afghan government,” he said, adding that Turkey was seeking political, financial and logistical support from various countries.

ANKARA, July 1 (Reuters) - Turkey's withdrawal on Thursday from an international treaty to prevent violence against women is not a step backwards, President Tayyip Erdogan said, defending a move which has drawn condemnation from many Turks and Western allies.

"Some circles are trying to portray our withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention as a step backwards in our battle with violence against women," he told an action plan meeting in Ankara.

ISTANBUL, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Thursday started to inoculate healthcare workers and people aged 50 and above with the third dose of COVID-19 jabs as part of the ongoing nationwide vaccination campaign.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced the previous day that people who fit this criterion could make appointments for their third vaccination.

"There is no restriction or priority about which vaccine type the third dose would be," Koca said at a televised speech after a Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Committee meeting.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel, a world leader in coronavirus vaccinations, reported its highest daily infection rate in three months as it scrambles to contain the spread of the new delta variant.

Authorities are racing to vaccinate children and are considering tighter travel restrictions at the country’s main airport.

01 July 2021; MEMO: Egypt has domestically produced its first 300,000-dose batch of China's Sinovac coronavirus vaccine, the Ministry of Health announced yesterday.

Health Minister Hala Zayed told reporters that the doses were manufactured in two local factories, adding that one of the facilities was operating with a "capacity of 300,000 doses per day and an annual production capacity of 110 to 220 million doses."

30 June 2021; MEMO: Hundreds of children are incarcerated in adult prisons in northeastern Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday, disclosing their plight as inmates for the first time, Reuters reports.

01 July 2021; MEMO: Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has issued the head of the only Arab party in the country's coalition government an ultimatum that if he does not support the extension of the controversial family reunification law, she will push to advance the Basic Law on Immigration.

01 July 2021; MEMO: Police in the Sudanese capital Khartoum yesterday dispersed a demonstration denouncing the deteriorating living conditions, which coincided with the second anniversary of the 30 June movement.

01 July 2021; MEMO: As many as 600 Egyptian policemen, including senior officers, have been determined to have been involved in bribery and corruption, as well as abuse of power during the past six months, Arabi21 has reported.