Middle East & North Africa

10 October 2022; MEMO: The Palestine Investment Fund is on the verge of reaching a technical agreement with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to extract gas from the Gaza Marine gas field.

Anadolu news agency quoted official Palestinian sources saying yesterday that both parties will sign a technical agreement during the last quarter of 2022 that determines the distribution of the shares and the how to market the gas.

Kanpur: A police constable was suspended for stealing the mobile phone of a youth sleeping in front of his shop in the Maharajpur area here on Sunday, news reports said here.

The action was taken after a video of the constable went viral on social media.

Police sources said Nitin Singh, a resident of Chhatmara, owns a shop in the village. He was sleeping in front of his shop on Saturday night.

Constable along with a Home Guard, was on picket duty stole the mobile of rural shop owner.

9 October 2022; MEMO: The US military said late on Saturday that unidentified forces fired a rocket at a compound in Syria hosting US troops and partnered local forces, but failed to cause any injuries or damage, Reuters reports.

The military, in a short statement, said the 107 mm rocket failed to impact anything inside the Rumalyn Landing Zone US compound in northeast Syria.

DAMASCUS, Oct 9 (NNN-SANA) – The Syrian Foreign Ministry, yesterday, demanded the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria.

In a statement, the ministry said, the U.S. presence in Syria was illegal and demanded an end to the U.S. support to the Kurdish-led militias, which the ministry said, served the U.S. interests in Syria.

RAMALLAH, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- An escalation of tension in the West Bank would fuel an atmosphere of fear, hatred and anger between Israelis and Palestinians, a senior UN official warned on Saturday.

"It is necessary to reduce tensions immediately to open the way for decisive initiatives aimed at creating a viable political horizon between the two sides," UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland said in a press statement sent to Xinhua.

ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- An official of Yemen's pro-government security forces and four soldiers were killed in an explosion that struck their vehicle in the country's southern province of Abyan on Sunday, a military official told Xinhua.

"The explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device targeting a patrol of the pro-government southern security forces in Mudiyah district of Abyan Province," the local military source said on condition of anonymity.

The explosion also injured three security personnel, the source confirmed to Xinhua.

JERUSALEM, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli police arrested on Sunday six Palestinians for their suspected links to a deadly shooting attack in East Jerusalem on Saturday, as the search for the shooter is still underway.

The gunman opened fire at a military checkpoint near Shuafat, a Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem, killing Noa Lazar, an 18-year-old female sergeant with the military police, the military said in a statement.

TEHRAN, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian government spokesman said 480 thalassemia patients have died in Iran over the past four years because of the U.S. sanctions which impede Iran's import of medicine for rare diseases.

Because of the sanctions, 70 thalassemia patients lost their lives in 2018, 90 in 2019, 140 in 2020, and 180 in 2021, Ali Bahadori Jahromi said in a late Saturday tweet.

SULIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Growing up under a repressive system, Sharo, a 35-year-old university graduate, never thought she would hear words of open rebellion spoken out loud. Now she herself chants slogans like “Death to the Dictator!” with a fury she didn’t know she had, as she joins protests calling for toppling the country’s rulers.

New Delhi, Oct 8 (PTI) A newborn baby girl with her umbilical cord attached was rescued from a garbage dump in southwest Delhi, a statement issued by a hospital said on Saturday.

The baby was out in the rain.

The girl was extremely weak and in a hypothermic state. She is currently undergoing treatment, according to the doctors at Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj.