Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Saturday that Iran and Sri Lanka have agreed on the need to promote cooperation in trade and tourism, the official news agency IRNA reported.

He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his visiting Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry following their meeting in the capital Tehran earlier in the day.

The two countries will also expand cooperation in the scientific and cultural areas, as well as in using their knowledge-based firms' capacities, Amir-Abdollahian added.

BEIRUT, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Families of the victims who died in the 2020 Beirut port blasts commemorated the third anniversary of the catastrophic incident on Friday, urging authorities to accelerate investigations into the incident to bring justice to their loved ones.

Thousands of people, including civil society activists, political figures, and parliament members, participated in a commemoration march, which started from the Beirut Fire Brigade to run until the main road opposite the city port.

05 August 2023; MEMO: Algeria has announced a further voluntary reduction in oil production of 20,000 barrels per day to reach 940,000 barrels per day during August. This comes in compliance with the agreement to limit the production by the 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and 11 other non-OPEC members, known as OPEC+.

05 August 2023; MEMO: Tunisian Security Services have rescued 15,327 illegal migrants during the first half of 2023, Tunisian Interior Minister Kamal Feki announced on Friday.

According to Feki, 95 per cent of the migrants hold African or sub-Saharan identities.

He noted that the security services are carrying out a direct humanitarian follow-up in coordination with the relevant international organisations.

RAMALLAH, Aug 4 (NNN-WAFA) – The Palestinian leadership is “disappointed with the U.S. administration of President Joe Biden, for its failure to keep its promises it pledged to the Palestinians,” Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad Al-Maliki said, yesterday.

The U.S. administration “has failed to fulfill its promises, to back down from the decision of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who violated the U.S. policy and recognised Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Israel,” said Al-Maliki.

DAMASCUS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi was killed in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib by a rival rebel group, a war monitor reported on Friday.

Al-Quraishi was killed during clashes near a refugee camp in the village of Atama in northern Idlib, which is a few kilometers away from the town of Jindires in Aleppo province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Both areas are under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), previously known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

ANKARA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- The recent murders that took place in an alcohol store in Istanbul, Türkiye's most populous province, have highlighted the prevalence of unregistered guns and gun-related violence in the country despite police measures.

A group of armed men raided an alcohol store late on July 28 in the Esenyurt district of the Istanbul Province, which is known for its high crime rate, and killed two men and injured another.

BEIRUT (AP) — Three years after Beirut’s massive port blast, attempts to prosecute those responsible are mired in political intrigue, the final death toll remains disputed and many Lebanese have less faith than ever in their disintegrating state institutions.

02 August 2023; MEMO: Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched a surprise military drill Wednesday on disputed islands in the Persian Gulf as the US military increased its presence in the region, AP reports.

According to the report, the elite force ran the drills mainly off the coast of Abu Musa which, along with Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, are islands in the Gulf that Iran controls but have recently been increasingly the subject of political tensions.

03 August 2023; MEMO: The appeal against the illegal West Bank outpost of Homesh, urging its evacuation to allow Palestinian landowners access to their land, was dismissed by Israel's High Court of Justice.

According to Haaretz, in her verdict High Court Justice Yael Wilner claimed that the outpost's buildings were relocated from privately-owned Palestinian land and therefore negates the claim of illegal construction.