Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that he decided to purchase weapons only from Israel because the country does not restrict their uses as other countries do, according to officials and local media.

The remarks were made during Duterte's meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on the third day of his four-day visit to Israel.

He thanked Rivlin for the military and security assistance and knowledge provided by Israel to the Philippines over the past years.

DAMASCUS, September 3. /TASS/. Schools in Syria’s governorates hired more than 30,000 new teachers this year. According to Syrian Education Minister Hazwan al-Waz, the move became necessary after schools in the territories liberated from terrorists resumed their work.

"This year, Syria’s Ministry of Education hired 30,000 teachers additionally in those cities, which were liberated from terrorists," he said.

MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/. It is impossible to end the Syrian crisis because of US meddling, since Washington has been coddling the interests of Israel, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

"The Syrian people and the Syrian government want the crisis to end today. However, it is impossible because of external interference led by the United States," he said, adding, "this interference satisfies the interests of Israel and runs counter to those of the Syrian people."

BETHLEHEM, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Israeli occupation forces demolished Monday four houses that belong to Palestinians in the south Bethlehem town Al-Walaja in the West Bank.

Palestinian sources said that three homes were leveled to the ground by Israeli authorities, while they forced the owner of a fourth one to demolish her own home at her own expense to avoid a substantial fine imposed by the Israeli Jerusalem municipality.

The owner of the fourth home, Hanan Razem, stopped the process of her home demolition after neighbors intervened to help her.

CAIRO, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian-French mission discovered one of the oldest villages in Egypt's Nile Delta, the country's Antiquities Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"The joint mission excavated the remains of a Neolithic settlement at the bottom level of Tell el-Samara site, whose occupation lasted until the 2nd dynasty of ancient Egypt," Ayman Ashmawi, head of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector, said in a the statement.

TASS, September 2. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that his country is not willing to ask anybody for permission to buy S-400 defense missile systems from Russia, the Milliyet newspaper reported.

"We have made an agreement with Russia on S-400, and some are concerned by that. I’m sorry, but we’re not going to ask anyone for permission," the newspaper quotes Erdogan.

On August 31, the Turkish leader said that Turkey hopes to receive the missile systems "as soon as possible".

ANKARA, Sep. 2 (Xinhua) -- As the Turkish-U.S. ties remain deeply strained, Ankara's relationship with Europe is steadily warming, where cooperation seems to have taken the upper hand over confrontation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to pay a state visit to Germany in late September, the first of its kind in four years.

Meanwhile, the Turkish leader is also likely to host a summit between France, Germany and Russia, in the absence of the United States, to discuss the Syria issue.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Russia will hold drills in the Mediterranean Sea on September 1-8 with the involvement of 25 warships and 30 aircraft, the Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

In accordance with the training plan of the Russian Armed Forces, large-scale drills of the grouping of forces (troops) of the Russian Navy and the Aerospace Force will be conducted on September 1-8, 2018 in the Mediterranean Sea under the direction of Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Korolyov," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Damascus does not have chemical weapons, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem reiterated at talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.

"As for accusations concerning the use of chemical weapons, we don’t have them. We do not use chemical weapons," Muallem said, adding that "we don’t need it because we have been achieving victories on the battlefields."

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. The creation of quasi-state local government bodies in eastern Syria by the Americans can result in attempts to split the country and contravenes the UN Security Council’s decisions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters at a news conference on Thursday following meeting with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.