DUBAI, Aug 16 (NNN-WAM) – Dubai Ports (DP) World, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) port operator, expects to expand its container handling capacity by about three million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), by the end of the year, it was reported yesterday.

DP World, which ranks among the top five global port operators, handles approximately nine percent of the world’s total containers. Upon expansion, its capacity will rise to 93.6 million TEUs, enabling it to meet growing demand in main trade markets, said the report.

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — A Muslim mob on Wednesday stormed a Christian locality in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, burning one church, damaging two others and demolishing the house of a man after accusing him of desecrating the pages of Islam’s holy book, police said.

The attack happened in the district of Faisalabad in eastern Punjab province, local police chief Rizwan Khan said. He said the mob attacked the Christian colony after some of the Muslims living nearby accused a local Christian, Raja Amir, and his friend of desecrating pages of the Quran.

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were trading mixed Wednesday amid worries over discouraging data on China, as well as over the future of the U.S. economy.

France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.4% in early trading to 7,292.89, while Germany’s DAX rose 0.2% to 15,799.93. Britain’s FTSE 100 was little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to 7,387.74.

U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.2% at 35,073.00. S&P 500 futures gained 0.2% to 4,463.00.

But benchmarks fell in Asia earlier in the day.

KYIV, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine said Russia had attacked its grain storage facilities overnight, but a container ship left the Black Sea port of Odesa on Wednesday despite Moscow's threat to target shipping after it abandoned an export deal.

In the Russian capital, five sources said authorities were considering reimposing stringent capital controls as the rouble showed the strains of Russia's invasion of its neighbour, which has brought huge military spending and Western sanctions.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: Russia’s Luna-25 automatic lunar station has entered the orbit of the Earth’s natural satellite, firing its thrusters twice, the State Space Corporation Roscosmos reported on Wednesday.

"The Luna-25 automatic station engineered at the Lavochkin Research and Production Association (part of the state corporation Roscosmos) has entered the orbit of the Moon’s artificial satellite," Roscosmos said in a statement.

16 August 2023; MEMO: Israel today claimed that occupation forces targeted and destroyed a weapons laboratory and explosives warehouse belonging to the Palestinian Fatah movement.

The site, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Balata in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, was destroyed by Israel’s army and Border Police using explosives last night.

The Palestinians who investigated the blast site claimed that the location was only used as a centre by Fatah.

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) released the findings of an ongoing investigation into an American soldier crossing the border into the country last month, attributing his motivation to disillusion with the inequality of American society, reported state media on Wednesday.

According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Travis King, a private second class of the U.S. military based in South Korea, "illegally intruded" into the territory of the DPRK on July 18.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Nigeriens are preparing for a possible invasion by countries in the region, three weeks after mutinous soldiers ousted the nation’s democratically elected president.

16 August 2023; MEMO: The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia’s appointment of a consul general in Jerusalem means that it “rejects the city’s annexation” by the occupation state of Israel, Quds Press has reported.

16 August 2023; MEMO: Authorities in Zambia have seized a plane which arrived from Cairo carrying $5.7 million in cash, gold bars, pistols and 126 rounds of ammunition.

Director General of the Drug Enforcement Committee Nasun Banda said at a press conference in the capital Lusaka that authorities detained ten people, including six Egyptians. Also arrested are a Spaniard, a Latvian, a Dutch and a Zambian.

16 August 2023; MEMO: More than 2,000 Moroccans visited Israel during the first half of 2023, a massive 66 per cent increase on the same period last year, Sama news agency reported on Tuesday. According to a report published by the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace, 200 Moroccans visited Israel in June alone.

16 August 2023; MEMO: Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority has reopened airspace in the eastern part of the country for air traffic.

The authority stated in a statement released late yesterday that it reopened “Sudanese airspace to air traffic on the eastern routes of the country, starting today, Tuesday.”

An alternative air navigation centre was established in the city of Port Sudan in the east of the country.