Middle East & North Africa

RANYA, Iraq (AP) — Shoes pile up outside the Mamand home in northern Iraq from relatives and friends who have streamed inside to offer solace as they anxiously await news of the family’s young son, who was lost at sea somewhere between France and Britain.

Most are afraid to articulate their fear that 18-year old Twana Mamand may have drowned along with at least 26 others when their flimsy boat sank near the French coast last week. They had been bound for Britain with hopes of starting new lives.

TRIPOLI, Dec 2 (NNN-Xinhua) — Libyan Minister of Transportation Mohamed al-Shohobi on Wednesday launched the first tourist cruise line between Libya and Turkey, the first trip of its kind in Libya in more than 20 years, the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement.

The launch of the cruise line comes within the framework of the Libyan government’s efforts to promote partnership between the public and private sectors, the ministry said.

BAGHDAD, Dec 2 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Ministry of Oil said yesterday that, the country exported 98.19 million barrels of crude oil in Nov, bringing in revenues of about 7.59 billion U.S. dollars.

The average selling price for crude oil in the month was 77.33 dollars per barrel, according to a ministry statement, citing statistics of the State Organisation for Marketing of Oil.

RIYADH, Dec 2 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia announced yesterday, the detection of its first case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

The variant was detected from an inbound citizen, coming from a North African country, the Saudi Health Ministry said, adding that, the infected person was quarantined and those close contacts were tested.

The ministry called on the public to complete their COVID-19 vaccinations to protect the safety of all.

JERUSALEM, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Israel on Thursday urged world powers to halt nuclear talks with Iran immediately, citing a U.N. watchdog's announcement that Tehran has started producing enriched uranium with more advanced centrifuges.

"Iran is carrying out nuclear blackmail as a negotiating tactic, and this should be answered by the immediate halt to negotiations and the implementation of tough steps by the world powers," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office quoted him as saying in a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Rights groups said Thursday that Israel failed to investigate shootings that killed more than 200 Palestinians and wounded thousands at violent protests along the Gaza frontier in recent years, strengthening the case for the International Criminal Court to intervene.

The Israeli military rejected the findings, saying the “mass riots” organized by Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers were aimed at providing cover for cross-border attacks. The military said alleged abuses were thoroughly investigated, with soldiers held accountable.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After a monthslong hiatus, Iran has returned to negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving its cratered nuclear deal with world powers. But Tehran isn’t slowing down the advances in its atomic program, further raising the stakes in talks crucial to cooling years of tensions boiling in the wider Mideast.

The case in point? Iran’s underground nuclear facility in Fordo.

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese DJ was days away from moving to Riyadh to play for a month in one of the newest entertainment centers in Saudi Arabia’s capital when a brief, polite Whatsapp message informed her that the contract won’t go through.

The head of a Beirut-based communications agency had been negotiating to revive a two-year-old contract derailed by the pandemic for hundreds of thousands of dollars. After two days of silence her Saudi client, in an apologetic call, said now is not the time.

02 Dec 2021; MEMO: Hamas yesterday welcomed Malaysia's anti-normalisation stance, a statement posted on the movement's website said.

"Hamas hails Malaysia's genuine stance of rejecting all forms of normalisation with the Zionist enemy, and the latest was refusing the entry of a Zionist sports team to its land," the statement said.

02 Dec 2021; MEMO: The Middle East's peace and security is at stake if Palestinian suffering is not brought to an end with a solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, said yesterday.