Middle East Experience

The director of Sidon Governmental Hospital in south Lebanon tested positive for coronavirus Saturday..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: COVID-19 cases surge in Sidon, hospital struggles

A senior health official has said that daily fatalities could potentially reach 900 in coming days unless adequate measures were taken..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Iran expands anti-virus measures as calls for lockdown grow

Investments worth billions of dollars in the US market and currencies pegged to the greenback leave Gulf states heavily exposed to the American economy.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Elections weigh on US-Gulf economic relations

The last major step in restoring US-Sudanese relations is legislation pending in Congress that would restore Sudan's sovereign immunity.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Intel: US, Sudan sign terror claims agreement

Sudan and the United States signed an agreement to restore the African country's sovereign immunity, the Sudanese Ministry of Justice said on Friday. The ministry said in a statement the agreement will settle cases brought against Sudan in US courts, including for the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, for which Sudan has agreed to pay $335 million to victims.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. The deal is part of a US pledge to remove Sudan from its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which goes back to its toppled Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir when Washington believed the country was supporting militant groups. President Donald Trump said this month that the United States will remove Sudan from the list as soon as Khartoum sets aside the $335 million it has agreed to pay to American victims of militant attacks and their families. To avoid new lawsuits Sudan needed its sovereign immunity restored, which it lost as a designated sponsor of terrorism. The designation makes it difficult for its transitional government to access urgently needed debt relief and foreign financing as it fights an economic crisis. Sudan has under US pressure also agreed to normalize ties with Israel, making Khartoum the third Arab government after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to establish relations with Israel in the last two months.Read more:Everything you need to know: Sudan's removal from US state sponsor of terrorism listIsrael, Sudan announce deal normalizing tiesAfter agreeing to normalize ties, Israel to send $5 million of wheat to Sudan
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Sudan signs agreement with US restoring its sovereign immunity

Iraq’s Sunni-majority Anbar province has in recent months completed a number of infrastructure works in the hope of attracting more investment as the US troops' presence winds down, amid debate over the possibility of carving out an autonomous region.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Iraq's western Anbar province getting back on its feet, eyeing autonomy

Rescue teams on Saturday plowed through concrete blocs and debris of eight collapsed buildings in search of survivors of a powerful earthquake that struck Turkey’s Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos, killing at least 27 people. More than 800 others were injured.The quake hit Friday afternoon, toppling buildings in Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city, and triggering a small tsunami in the district of Seferihisar and on Samos. The quake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks.Early on Saturday, onlookers cheered as rescued lifted teenager Inci Okan out of the rubble of a devastated eight-floor apartment bloc. Friends and relatives waited outside the building for news of loved ones still trapped inside, including employees of a dentist’s surgery that was located on the ground floor.Two other women, aged 53 and 35, were rescued from another collapsed two-story building.At least 24 people were killed in Izmir, including an elderly woman who drowned, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD.Two teenagers were killed on Samos after being struck by a collapsing wall. At least 19 people were injured on the island, with two, including a 14-year-old, being airlifted to Athens and seven hospitalized on the island, health authorities said.Read more: Clashes at Lebanon’s capital Beirut as people protest French cartoons of the ProphetThe small tsunami that hit the Turkish coast also affected Samos, with seawater flooding streets in the main harbor town of Vathi. Authorities warned people to stay away from the coast and from potentially damaged buildings.The earthquake, which the Kandilli Institute said had a magnitude of 6.9, struck at 2:51 p.m. (1151 GMT) in Turkey and was centered in the Aegean northeast of Samos. AFAD said it measured 6.6.It was felt across the eastern Greek islands and as far as Athens and in Bulgaria. In Turkey, it shook the regions of Aegean and Marmara, including Istanbul. Istanbul’s governor said there were no reports of damage in the city, Turkey’s largest.Authorities warned residents in Izmir not to return to damaged buildings, saying they could collapse in strong aftershocks.More than 3,000 rescue personnel were sent to Izmir, as well as relief supplies. The Turkish Red Crescent set up kitchens.In a show of solidarity rare in recent months of tense bilateral relations, Greek and Turkish government officials issued mutual messages of solidarity while the presidents of Greece and Turkey held a telephone conversation.Relations between Turkey and Greece have been particularly tense, with warships from both facing off in the eastern Mediterranean in a dispute over maritime boundaries and energy exploration rights.The ongoing tension has led to fears of open conflict between the two neighbors and NATO allies.Read more:Over 1,000 Muslim leaders around the world adopt anti-Semitism definition via councilCoronavirus: US reports world record of more than 100,000 cases in single dayFree speech has limits, says Canada PM when asked about Prophet Mohammed cartoons
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Death toll reaches 27 in Turkey-Greece earthquake as search for survivors continues

Economic projects in Iraq are facing major setbacks due to ongoing payment demands from tribes and armed groups.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Demands for payment from tribes, militias stalling investment in Iraq

A Norwegian NGO has launched a joint training program to train female engineering graduates in the field of sustainable agriculture, with the aim of both encouraging Jordanian women to join the workforce and fight desertification.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: In Jordan, female engineers lead the way in sustainable agriculture

Washington announced Thursday that it had filed a complaint over shipments of Iranian missiles from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to Houthi militants, seized by the US Navy.Two US warships seized 171 guided anti-tank missiles, eight surface-to-air missiles, and various other missile components during two separate routine maritime security operations, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers announced.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“On August 20, 2020, the National Security Division and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia filed a complaint in US District Court seeking to forfeit the seized weapons,” the US official added.The US is also seeking to forfeit approximately 1.1 million barrels of Iranian petroleum that the US previously obtained from four foreign-flagged oil tankers bound for Venezuela, the Justice Department announced.“These actions represent the government’s largest-ever forfeitures actions for fuel and weapons shipments from Iran,” the Justice Department said.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US files ‘largest-ever’ forfeitures action over fuel, weapons shipments from Iran