Middle East & North Africa

13 August 2022; MEMO: The Kurdish autonomous administration on Friday handed over around 700 people to the Iraqi government, most of whom are relatives of members of Daesh and detained inside a camp in north-eastern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

SOHR stated that more than 620 relatives of the organisation's members left Al-Hol camp by joint coordination between the camp administration and the Iraqi government.

13 August 2022; MEMO: An Israeli woman accused of spying for Iran and put under house arrest in December has attempted to commit suicide on Thursday.

According to Israeli paramedics, the woman had tried to overdose on pills and was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

BAGHDAD, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iraq announced on Saturday that it had received 50 prisoners who were militants of the Islamic State (IS) captured earlier in Syria.

"Through joint understandings and agreements, Iraq received 50 IS members, who are Iraqi citizens, from the Syrian side," tweeted the Security Media Cell (SMC), a media outlet affiliated with Iraq's armed forces.

The handover of the prisoners was carried out at the Rabia border crossing in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, according to the SMC.

ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia announced the successful completion of the third filling of its mega-dam on the Blue Nile.

"It is with great pleasure, I announce the successful completion of the third filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)," said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday during a program at the dam site.

The announcement came a day after the East African nation launched electricity generation from the second turbine of the mega-dam.

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan authorities said Saturday they found at least 15 migrants dead in the desert on the borders with Sudan, the latest tragedy involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe via perilous journeys through the conflict-wrecked nation.

The Department for Combating Irregular Migration in the southeastern city of Kufra said the migrants were on their way from Sudan to Libya when their vehicle broke down due to lack of fuel.

CAIRO (AP) — President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt announced a Cabinet reshuffle Saturday to improve his administration’s performance as it faces towering economic challenges stemming largely from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Cabinet shake-up, which was approved by parliament in an emergency session, affected 13 portfolios, including health, education, culture, local development and irrigation ministries.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians reacted with praise and worry Saturday over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death.

It remains unclear why Rushdie’s attacker, identified by police as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event Friday in western New York. Iran’s theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault.

13 August 2022; MEMO: European Union (EU) representatives, ambassadors and consuls organised a visit on Friday to the Ein Samiya Bedouin school east of Ramallah to protest the decision by the Israeli court in Jerusalem to demolish it immediately.

13 August 2022; MEMO: Iran has stated that it wants assurances and guarantees that no future US president would rescind the nuclear deal should it accept the European Union (EU) proposal to return to the deal, news agency IRNA reported Friday.

13 August 2022; MEMO: Renown Israeli rights group B'Tselem disclosed on Saturday that Shin Bet had raided the Sosya neighbourhood in Hebron Hills, detaining its field researcher Nasser Nawajah and interrogating him.