Middle East & North Africa

CAIRO, Mar 4 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, and his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, held their first meeting, after the two countries signed a reconciliation agreement in Jan, to end a three-year rift.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 155th ordinary session of the Arab League Council, at the level of foreign ministers, which kicked off yesterday, in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

BAGHDAD, Mar 4 (NNN-NINA) – In a health centre of Medical City, Iraq’s largest medical complex, medical staff members gathered, to register for COVID-19 vaccination with the Sinopharm vaccine donated by China.

“We are very optimistic about the vaccination programme, and we started the vaccination of some 40 medics in more than an hour of the first day,” Safaa al-Din Kareem, a nurse vaccinating the health workers at the scene, said.

Iraq kicked off its national vaccination on Tuesday, by administering the China-donated vaccines to Iraqi frontline health workers.

GAZA, Mar 4 (NNN-WAFA) – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said, living conditions of Palestinian refugees in the besieged Gaza Strip “are getting worse, due to 14 years of Israeli blockade and lack of jobs,” said Matthias Schmale, director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip.

“The agency resorted to implementing the unified food basket system in the Gaza Strip, because the living standards have become the same and it isn’t easy to differentiate between the poor people and their levels of living,” Schmale said.

04 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Authority (PA) yesterday condemned an attack by Israeli settlers on the Romanian Church in Jerusalem, Al-Watan Voice has reported.

04 Mar 2021; MEMO: Arab Foreign Ministers approved on Wednesday the reappointment of Ahmed Aboul Gheit for a second term as Secretary-General of the Arab League. The vote was said to be unanimous.

04 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Houthis in Yemen have accused the US of prolonging the war in their country, shortly after Washington imposed sanctions on two of the group's senior leaders.

"America is condemning itself and confirming that it is not thinking about stopping the aggression," said official spokesman Muhammad Abdul Salam on Twitter. "And that it stands behind the prolonging of the war and the exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis."

04 Mar 2021; MEMO: Turkey has signalled it could reach a deal with Egypt on the boundary between their maritime zones in the Mediterranean if relations between the two countries warm.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that the two countries could sign a maritime agreement, "depending on the trajectory of relations."

A recent Egyptian map with the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) marked out is close to Turkey's proposition, reports TRT World.

03 Mar 2021; MEMO: Extremist Israeli settlers threw stones at homes and vehicles in two Palestinian villages south of Nablus yesterday, Wafa news agency has reported. According to the human rights group Yesh Din, a group of settlers entered Huwara and stoned vehicles, shattering the windows in two of them.

04 Mar 2021; MEMO: Israel is currently in contact with Western countries to establish a regional defence alliance with the participation of several Arab countries, against the "Iranian threat". local Makan reported yesterday.

DUBAI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - OPEC, Russia and other oil producers meet on Thursday to decide whether to keep April output steady or increase it as they weigh a recent price rally against uncertainty about the economic recovery.

With oil above $60 a barrel, some analysts have predicted the OPEC+ group of producers will increase output by about 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) and also expect Saudi Arabia to partially or fully end its voluntary reduction of 1 million bpd.