Middle East & North Africa

28 June 2022; MEMO: The UN human rights office said, on Tuesday, that 306,887 civilians had been killed in Syria during the conflict since March 2011, or about 1.5 per cent of its pre-war population, in what it said was the highest estimate yet, Reuters reports.

Syria's conflict sprang out of peaceful protests against President Bashar Al-Assad's rule in March 2011 and morphed into a multi-sided, protracted conflict that sucked in world powers.

29 June 2022; MEMO: Hotel operator, Accor, is recruiting 12,000 temporary overseas employees to operate 65,000 empty rooms in apartments and homes in Qatar as temporary fan housing for the 2022 soccer World Cup, its Chairman and CEO, Sébastien Bazin, told Reuters.

Qatar is working to avoid an accommodation shortage during the tournament and has hired Accor, Europe's largest hotel operator, to manage the temporary operation.

28 June 2022; MEMO: A service honouring the life of journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, took place at St Bride's Church, the Journalists' Church, in London today.

29 June 2022; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said yesterday that Israeli IT specialists on their keyboards could replace sending commandoes to fight in battlefields.

Speaking at the Tel Aviv University Cyber Week, Bennett said: "Just like there is nuclear deterrence, there is going to be cyber deterrence."

He added: "My approach generally, and especially with Iran is that we do not go around wreaking havoc in Tehran, that has never been our policy, but our policy is if you mess with Israel, you will pay a price."

ISTANBUL, June 27 (Reuters) - Turkish defence firm Baykar said on Monday it would donate three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Ukraine, after a crowdfunding campaign there raised enough funds to buy "several" of the Bayraktar TB2 model.

The TB2 has been hugely popular in Ukraine, where it helped destroy Russian artillery systems and armoured vehicles. It even became the subject of a patriotic expletive-strewn hit song in Ukraine that mocked Russian troops, with the chorus "Bayraktar, Bayraktar".

DUBAI/LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - Iran, which holds the world's second largest gas reserves, has applied to join the BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that Beijing and Moscow cast as a powerful emerging market alternative to the West.

The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001 to describe the startling rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The BRIC powers had their first summit in 2009 in Russia. South Africa joined in 2010.

ANKARA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday, discussing the agenda of the upcoming NATO summit, Turkey's presidency said.

The two leaders also discussed bilateral issues and some regional matters, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.

TEHRAN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that resistance, endeavors and fearlessness are the secrets behind the victory of the Iranian nation and the Islamic republic over the enemies during the past four decades.

AQABA, Jordan (AP) — Jordan’s prime minister said Tuesday that he has instructed authorities to launch an investigation into the deadly blast the previous day at the Red Sea port of Aqaba that killed at least 13 people.

A crane loading chlorine tanks onto a ship on Monday dropped one of them, causing an explosion of toxic yellow smoke. Along with those killed, some 250 were sickened, authorities said.

27 June 2022; MEMO: Iran yesterday launched a solid-fuel rocket capable of carrying a satellite into orbit, a day after Tehran and the European Union agreed to resume talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

It was not clear when the rocket was launched,  but the announcement came after satellite images showed preparations at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran's rural Semnan province.