16 September 2023; MEMO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged that Israel lift its restrictions on the Palestinian economy and occupied territories to give way for improving investment opportunities.

Sept 16 (Reuters) - Russian-installed authorities in Crimea said on Saturday they planned to sell about 100 Ukrainian properties, including one belonging to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of the Crimean parliament, said the nationalised properties would be sold "soon" and the authorities had held the first eight auctions for the properties of Ukrainian business figures.

The sale contracts amounted to more than 815 million roubles ($8.51 million), Konstantinov said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Men incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary filed a class-action lawsuit Saturday, contending they have been forced to work in the prison’s fields for little or no pay, even when temperatures soar past 100 degrees. They described the conditions as cruel, degrading and often dangerous.

TOKYO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The approval ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's new cabinet showed no significant signs of improvement following its reshuffle this week, according to opinion polls conducted by multiple Japanese media outlets.

National news agency Kyodo found in its latest poll that the reshuffle saw a limited impact on lifting popularity, although the cabinet's approval rating slightly edged up 6.2 percentage points from late August to 39.8 percent.

KYIV, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Two cargo vessels were bound for Ukrainian ports on Saturday, becoming the first ships to use a temporary corridor to sail into Black Sea ports and load grain for African and Asian markets, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

Ukraine last month announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to release ships trapped in its ports since the start of the war in February 2022 and to circumvent a de facto blockade after Russia abandoned a deal to let Kyiv export grain.

BRUSSELS/WARSAW, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports on Friday after the European Commission decided not to extend its ban on imports into Ukraine's five EU neighbours.

Ukraine was one of the world's top grain exporters before Russia's 2022 invasion reduced its ability to ship agricultural produce to global markets. Ukrainian farmers have relied on grain exports through neighbouring countries since the conflict began as it has been unable to use the favoured routes through Black Sea ports.

DERNA, Libya (AP) — Libyan authorities have opened an investigation into the collapse of two dams that caused a devastating flood in a coastal city as rescue teams searched for bodies on Saturday, nearly a week after the deluge killed more than 11,000 people.

OSLO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - A top NATO military official warned on Saturday that a drastic rise in ammunition prices means that allies' higher defence spending does not automatically translate into greater security and called for more private investment in defence companies.

"Prices for equipment and ammunition are shooting up. Right now, we are paying more and more for exactly the same," Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, the chair of NATO's military committee, said on Saturday after a meeting of the alliance's chiefs of defence in Oslo.

PRAGUE, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of a pro-Russian Czech opposition party gathered in Prague on Saturday to protest against the country's centre-right government, criticising its economic management and military support for Ukraine.

The protest was called by the PRO movement, which is not represented in parliament and has taken a nationalist, pro-Moscow and anti-Western line.

News agency CTK estimated the turnout at about 10,000 people, smaller than a similar event a year ago which took place at the height of Europe's energy price surge.

16 September 2023; MEMO: Israeli warplanes on Friday targeted a Palestinian watchtower near the east side of Gaza City, security sources disclosed, reporting no human casualties.

The airstrike came following a demonstration organised by hundreds of youths along the Gaza fence in support of Al-Aqsa Mosque and solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers inside Israeli jails.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Biden administration heralds the forthcoming release of five U.S. citizens detained by Iran, President Joe Biden is also confronting questions about the price being paid to bring them — and other detainees — home.

The billions of dollars being unfrozen for Iran and the release of five prisoners charged in America are just the latest sizable concessions by the U.S. government in the name of securing the freedom of wrongfully detained Americans.

(AP) --- The U.S. government has warned a Virginia judge that allowing an American Marine to keep an Afghan war orphan risks violating international law and could be viewed around the world as “endorsing an act of international child abduction,” according to secret court records reviewed by The Associated Press.