Middle East & North Africa

ANKARA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and 36 others injured on Sunday in a traffic accident in the western Turkish province of Afyonkarahisar, Demiroren News Agency reported.

A passenger bus overturned after the driver lost control of the bus in Karabedir village of Dinar district, the report said.

The bus was traveling from the southeastern province of Diyarbakir to the Bodrum district of the southwestern province of Mugla, it added.

Several rescue teams were dispatched to the scene after the accident.

RAMALLAH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian officials are facing international pressure to resume security coordination with Israel, which has been severed in response to Israeli aggression in the West Bank.

However, "the Palestinian leadership is steadfast in its position, and there is no turning back from its clear stance that supports the Palestinian situation," Sabri Seidam, deputy chairman of the central committee of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, told "Voice of Palestine" on Saturday.

BEIRUT, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A drastic decline in rain and snowfall this year is posing dire consequences to Lebanon's agricultural livelihoods, Lebanese officials and experts have warned.

"The decline in rain and scarcity of snow are all factors that negatively affect the stock of ground and drinking water and the ability to irrigate crops and fruit trees and provide wild animals with their water and food needs," said Michel Afram, director general of the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institution.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cypriots on Sunday began voting for their eighth new president in the ethnically divided island’s 63-year history as an independent republic, with three front-runners each portraying themselves as the safest bet to guide the country through turbulent economic times and to seek peace with breakaway Turkish Cypriots.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A former Israeli prime minister who served briefly as a mediator at the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine says he drew a promise from the Russian president not to kill his Ukrainian counterpart.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett emerged as an unlikely intermediary in the war’s first weeks, becoming one of the few Western leaders to meet President Vladimir Putin during the war in a snap trip to Moscow last March.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday reportedly ordered an amnesty or reduction in prison sentences for “tens of thousands” of people detained amid nationwide anti-government protests shaking the country, acknowledging for the first time the scale of the crackdown.

05 Feb 2023; AA: Human chains, rallies, and protest demonstrations were held across Pakistan on Sunday to express solidarity with the pro-independence movement in Jammu and Kashmir.

The day, a national holiday, began with special prayers in the mosques for the liberation of Kashmir. A minute's silence was observed throughout the country at 10 a.m. local time (0600GMT).

Thousands of people formed human chains on roads connecting the capital Islamabad to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Tehran, IRNA – Member of Iran’s Guardian Council Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee on Saturday criticized the US State Department spokesman for backing the Israeli regime, saying, that means support for “state terrorism.”

Kadkhodaee, who is a jurist at the 12-member Guardian Council made the comment on his twitter page.

He said that sustainable peace and security in West Asia region will be achieved only after the US ends its support for the Israeli regime, adding that Washington’s support also means opposition to Palestinians’ right to decide their fate.

Tehran, IRNA – Iran’s export of mining and mineral industries has exceeded 9.963 billion dollars from March 21, 2022, to January 20, 2023.

The export volume consists of 39.148 million tons of different products of mining industries, indicating three percent growth year-on-year.

The bulk of export items comprised steel and its sub-products 8.685 tons and 4.643 billion dollars in terms of weight and worth respectively, constituting 46.6 percent of total exports of the country.

Tehran, IRNA –Iran has described a recent decision by Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi to disclose confidential and unverified information about nuclear activities in Iran’s Fordow plant as unprofessional.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami said in a TV interview late on Friday that Iran had submitted a letter to the IAEA explaining incorrect issues raised in a recent report by one of the agency’s inspectors during a visit to Ferdow.