Middle East & North Africa

RIYADH, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke on Wednesday over the phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Press Agency reported.

During the telephone conversation, the two discussed the necessary steps to clarify Khashoggi's case with joint efforts.

Khashoggi, a columnist for U.S. newspaper The Washington Post and a critic of the Saudi government, has been missing since his entry into the Saudi consulate in Turkey's Istanbul on Oct. 2.

SANAA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were killed in a fresh Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a popular market in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Wednesday evening, medics and residents told Xinhua.

RAMALLAH, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian youth was shot dead during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestinian medical sources said Wednesday.

Mohammad Besharat, 21, was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in the chest during the clashes, said the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Several others were wounded by live ammunition and rubber coated bullets and suffocated by tear gas, it added.

Witnesses said clashes broke out after Israeli forces raided the village of Tamoun, located near Tubas in the West Bank's Northern Valleys.

Ankara, Oct 23 (AFP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said that the "savage murder" of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was meticulously planned, demanding that all those linked to the killing face punishment.

Erdogan had promised that his speech in Ankara would give the "naked truth" about the killing and he gave a host of new details while still saying Turkey wanted answers to key questions, including who gave the orders.

ANKARA, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of a premeditated "brutal murder," while demanding that the Saudi suspects be tried in Turkey.

"Whitewashing such barbarity will of course injure and wound the conscience of all humanity," the Turkish leader said in a much-anticipated speech to the lawmakers in Ankara.

TEHRAN, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Russia traded 956,662 tons of non-oil commodities worth 751.38 million U.S. dollars during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 - Sept. 22), Eghtesad online news website reported Sunday.

The figures marked a 25.7 percent rise in weight and 81 percent growth in value compared with the corresponding period past year.

Iran's exports to Russia stood at 212,606 tons worth 118.17 million dollars.

Iran mainly exported apples, fresh and frozen tomatoes, pistachio and kiwi to Russia during the six-month period.

by Mohamed al-Azaki

SANAA, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- In a public hospital in downtown Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa, doctors are on emergency state over a sudden flare-up of deadly diphtheria.

The intensified care unit is full of sick children and women infected with the disease, a bacterial infection spread from person to person through coughing or sneezing.

The disease causes a thick covering in the back of the throat and the most serious cases can kill a child within hours if not treated immediately.

Khan Al-Ahmar (Palestinian Territories) Oct 21 (AFP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen plans to demolish a strategically located Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank that have drawn international concern, his office said Sunday.

The surprise move, which came as Israeli forces were completing preparations for the evictions and demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, raised the ire of Netanyahu's rightwing coalition partners, while the village's Palestinian residents remained skeptical that an amicable solution was possible.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey will “never allow a cover-up” of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, a senior official in Turkey’s ruling party said Saturday after Saudi Arabia announced hours earlier that the writer died during a “fistfight” in its consulate.

BEIRUT; 20 Oct 2018; (AP) — Two days after Jamal Khashoggi vanished into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, The Washington Post published a column featuring his byline and the headline “A missing voice.” The space below it was blank.

That influential voice on Saudi affairs has been silenced forever after three decades as a writer, editor, commentator and media adviser.