Middle East & North Africa

AMMAN, Oct 4 (NNN-PETRA) – Jordan and Egypt yesterday, agreed to increase their exchange of expertise in the fields of mining, petrochemical industry, oil and natural gas, according to a statement by Jordan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

During a virtual meeting, a technical committee of officials from the two countries also agreed to prepare a timetable, to support each other’s scientific and technical needs, to help develop natural resources, stimulate investments and boost economies.

RIYADH, Oct 4 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, announced yesterday, the launch of the Saudi Downtown Company, for urban development across the kingdom.

Affiliated with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the company will build and develop downtown areas and mixed-use destinations in 12 cities, including Al-Madinah, Al-Baha, Najran, Jizan, Taif and Al-Jandal.

BEIRUT, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday called for the election of a new president for Lebanon within the constitutional time frame before President Michel Aoun's tenure ends on Oct. 31, a statement by the Council of Ministers reported.

"I hope that the parliament succeeds in electing a new president for the country within the constitutional time frame because the challenges facing Lebanon require a strong cooperation among constitutional institutions," Mikati said at a Beirut forum to discuss difficulties facing Lebanon's youth.

ANKARA, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The objection by Greece and the European Union (EU) to new economic and maritime deals between Türkiye and Libya is of "no significance or value" to Ankara, the Turkish foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday appealed for national unity and tried to allay anger against the country’s rulers, even as the anti-government protests that have engulfed the country for weeks continued to spread to universities and high schools.

Raisi acknowledged that the Islamic Republic had “weaknesses and shortcomings,” but repeated the official line that the unrest sparked last month by the death of a woman in the custody of the country’s morality police was nothing short of a plot by Iran’s enemies.

New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) Crop diversification is not a long-term solution to the problem of stubble burning and it will take four to five years to properly resolve the issue, a senior official of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has said.

Crop diversification and using short duration varieties of paddy are among several initiatives proposed by the Centre and experts to resolve the stubble burning issue in Punjab and Haryana.

3 October 2022; MEMO: A Lebanese depositor withdrew his savings by force from a bank in Beirut on Monday, according to a banking association, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The Association of Depositors said, on Twitter, that the depositor stormed a Blom Bank branch in Haret Hreik in the southern suburb of Beirut and "retrieved his savings".

The Association shared a video of the bank holdup on its Twitter page.

3 October 2022; MEMO: Israel approved the appointment yesterday of its new ambassador to Turkiye. A tweet from Prime Minister Yair Lapid confirmed the appointment of Irit Lillian and said that "This is another important step in repairing relations with Turkiye that we have been working on for the past year."

3 October 2022; MEMO: Israel's occupation forces raided the Jalazone refugee camp in the occupied West Bank today and fired at least 30 bullets at three young Palestinians in their vehicle, Wafa has reported. Two of the Palestinians were killed, while the third was wounded.

The two dead men were named as Basel Basbous, 19, and Khaled Anbar, 22, both residents of Jalazone. The man who was wounded was named as Rafat Habash, 19, from Beir Zeit. All three were reported to be construction workers.

3 October 2022; MEMO: Fighting has resumed between the Yemeni army and the Houthi militia on several fronts, hours after a truce ended and the UN failed to broker an extension. The truce has been in place for six months, but expired at 7pm local time yesterday.