Middle East & North Africa

ISTANBUL, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye inaugurated the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul on Wednesday to monitor the implementation of the grain shipment process from Ukraine, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters.

Located inside the big compound of a military university in the city's European side district of Besiktas, the center consists of 20 representatives from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, five from each party, according to Akar.

27 July 2022; MEMO: Israel said, on Tuesday, that its military jets came under Russian anti-aircraft fire over Syria in May but they missed their target, describing the confrontation as a "one-off incident", Reuters reports.

The disclosure by Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, came amid tensions between Israel and Russia over the former's condemnation of the Ukraine war and the latter's scrutiny of a Jewish emigration agency.

26 July 2022; MEMO: Turkish scientists, on Tuesday, completed a 22-day expedition in the Arctic Ocean, breaking ground on new projects and collecting reams of data along the way, Anadolu News Agency reports.

On 4 July, a boatful of nine people set sail on the Arctic Ocean with a PolarXplorer research vessel, under the coordination of the MAM Polar Research Institute, part of the Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Turkiye (TUBITAK).

26 July 2022; MEMO: Iran and Russia will officially begin trading in rials and rubles, dropping the US dollar as their common currency exchange, Tehran has announced.

Iranian Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs, Ehsan Khandouzi, made the announcement at a press conference today, marking a new step in economic cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, while seemingly dealing yet another blow to the status of the US dollar.

26 July 2022; MEMO: Iran's income from oil and condensates exports is 580 per cent higher in the first four months of the Iranian year (March 21 to July 21) compared with the same period a year ago, the Iranian Economy Minister said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

According to the report, the Economy Minister, Ehsan Khandouzi, told a news conference that Iran saw a 580 per cent increase in the Treasury's income from the export of oil and condensate in the first four months of this year.

26 July 2022; MEMO: Turkiye aims to increase its purchases of Iranian oil and gas amid greater energy needs and developing ties between the two countries, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

The Turkish President made the announcement in an interview with the state-owned broadcaster, TRT Haber, yesterday, stating that "Turkiye will increase its purchases of oil and natural gas from Iran", noting that the trade volume between Ankara and Tehran could reach $30 billion.

27 July 2022; MEMO: The Lebanese parliament approved a loan agreement with the World Bank on Tuesday worth $150 million to secure wheat supplies. The agreement comes as the country witnesses an unprecedented shortage of bread.

Images of long queues of people waiting outside bakeries to buy government-subsidised bread have gone viral. Queuing has not been without problems, with occasional intervention by security officers required in some locations.

27 July 2022; MEMO: The head of the Tunisian Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, said yesterday that "the referendum on the constitution arranged by President Kais Saied was a farce rejected by 75 per cent of the Tunisian people."

27 July 2022; MEMO: Israeli Interior Ministry's District Planning Committee for Jerusalem on Monday advanced plans for more than 700 new illegal settlement units suspended due to US President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, local media reported.

The committee also accepted the submission of a plan for 1,446 settlement units that would be located between the Jewish settlements of Har Homa and Givat Hamatos.

27 July 2022; MEMO: An Emirati academic and professor of political science has revealed the result of a recent opinion poll which suggests that a large majority of his fellow UAE citizens, 71 per cent of respondents, oppose normalising relations with Israel and consider it a negative step.