CAIRO – 2 September 2021: Egyptian-Cypriot military training "Ptolemy 2021" kicked off, Thursday, with the participation of special forces from both countries. The exercise comes as part of the Armed Forces' plan to exchange expertise and boost military cooperation with sisterly and friendly countries, as well as advance joint action with their Cypriot counterparts. Also, The Bright Star 2021 joint drills kicked off, Thursday at Mohamed Naguib Military Base in Marsa Matrouh, with the participation of 21 countries. The military training expected to take place in Egypt starting September 2 until September17. At the beginning of the multi-national military drill, head of the Egyptian Armed Forces Training Authority said that the Armed Force's General Command is keen on conducting the military exercise "Bright Star 2021", for being one of the largest and most important military maneuvers at the global level, given the size of the participating forces.

“This year the increase (in demand) compared to previous years is around 70 to 80 percent,” Suleiman told Reuters. The rooftop tanks where his customers store their water now pepper the city’s landscape. While climate change has brought drier weather to the Middle East, Jordan has fared worse than its neighbors. “Rainfall did not exceed 60 percent of the average,” said Water Ministry official Omar Salameh. Jordan’s population has doubled in the past 20 years, with waves of refugees, including more than one million Syrians, taken in.

Beirut, Sept 2 (Reuters) – The first Iranian fuel oil cargo secured through Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah will be delivered via Syria by truck to avoid complications related to sanctions, two sources with knowledge of the mater said on Thursday. Hezbollah, a heavily armed group founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, announced last month that a shipment of Iranian fuel oil was on its way to help ease crippling shortages in Lebanon. Lebanon’s caretaker energy minister has said his government did not receive any requests for import permits for Iranian fuel. The sources said the shipment would arrive at a Syrian port and then be trucked to Lebanon, with the first priority being to deliver fuel oil to hospitals for power generation. A report in local newspaper Al Akhbar on Thursday said the vessel had entered Syrian waters but the tracking service TankerTrackers.com disputed the report.

Geelani spearheaded Kashmir’s movement for the right to self-determination and was a staunch proponent of merging Kashmir with Pakistan. Geelani was also the face of Kashmir’s civilian defiance against Indian rule. The group used civil disobedience in the form of shutdowns and protests as a tactic to counter Indian rule. Its foreign ministry condemned the non-public burial by Indian authorities. Rebels have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Huw Groucutt passes rolling sand dunes as far as his eye can see when traveling to archaeological sites in the northern Arabian Peninsula. But the same desert regions were once intermittently lush and green, attracting early humans and large animals such as hippopotamuses migrating out of Africa to linger at ancient lakes, new evidence suggests. “We noticed color patterns made by ancient lakes — sand dunes are kind of orange-colored, while ancient lakes are tinted white or gray,” said Groucutt, who is also based at the Max Planck Institute. Extensive excavations over a decade revealed stone tools from multiple periods of prehistoric settlement by early human groups, the oldest 400,000 years ago. During these windows of hospitable climate, early humans and animals moved from northeast Africa into the Arabian Peninsula, the researchers say.

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco has launched a campaign to administer COVID-19 vaccines to children from 12 to 17, becoming one of the first African countries to inoculate that age group. The World Health Organization says that the North African country has already given around 33 million doses to adults this year. Access to good education — not just concerns over health — is one of the major factors influencing Moroccan parents’ decisions for their children. Morocco has administered more vaccine doses per person than the global average, and the highest proportion in Africa, according to Our World in Data. ___IMAGE: A mother accompanies her son to receive his COVID-19 vaccine as Morocco launches a campaign to vaccinate 12-17 year olds before the start of the school year, in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

The Texas law, signed by Republican Gov. The high court’s order declining to halt the Texas law came just before midnight Wednesday. In particular, this order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas’s law, and in no way limits other procedurally proper challenges to the Texas law, including in Texas state courts,” the unsigned order said. Had Ginsburg remained on the court there would have been five votes to halt the Texas law. In contrast, Texas’ law allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone involved in facilitating abortions.

FARO, Portugal (Reuters) - Cristiano Ronaldo became the all-time leading scorer in men's international football when he headed two last-gasp goals to give Portugal a 2-1 comeback victory over Ireland in Group A of World Cup Qualifying on Wednesday. The Manchester United forward saw Gavin Bazunu, a Manchester City loanee, save a first-half penalty after Jeff Hendrick was deemed to have fouled Bruno Fernandes. "I'm so happy, not only for the record but for the special moments with two goals at the end," Ronaldo said. John Egan headed Ireland into a shock lead from a corner on the stroke of half-time after Diogo Jota had hit the post for the hosts. Portugal, who travel to Azerbaijan next Tuesday, are top on 10 points after four games, three ahead of Serbia who have played a game fewer.

Sept 2 (Reuters) - Manchester United captain Harry Maguire hailed Cristiano Ronaldo's return to the club and said the "greatest player to play the game" will have a huge impact at Old Trafford. Ronaldo became the all-time leading scorer in men's international football when he headed two last-gasp goals to give Portugal a 2-1 victory over Ireland in their World Cup qualifier on Wednesday. "It's amazing to have Cristiano join us, and come back home," Maguire said. "His career speaks for itself, for me (he is) the greatest player to play the game... Maguire is away on international duty with England, who will take on Hungary in a World Cup qualifier in Budapest on Thursday.

Werenfels’ paper deals with Morocco’s successful Africa policy. However, Werenfels argued in her paper for more support of the two neighboring countries to promote a spirit of cohesion. This is despite the fact that Werenfels’ paper, like all SWP papers, had undergone a rigorous internal fact-checking and review process before publication, she told DW. “They read the sentence as if I was advocating putting the brakes on Morocco,” Werenfels said. “And I have written, after all, that Europe is doing too little to promote economic integration within Africa,” Werenfels highlighted.

It has never renounced the use of force to bring democratic Taiwan under its control. This means Beijing can monitor movements around Taiwan, helped by China’s regular use of its own spy planes, drones and intelligence gathering ships, it said. China’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. With precision missile attacks that can hit anywhere on the island, China is also capable of “paralysing” Taiwan military command centres and combat capacity of its naval and air forces, it said. Chinese spies in Taiwan could launch a “decapitation strike” to destroy political and economic infrastructure, it added.

Aeroflot began doubling its flights from Moscow to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada airports on Wednesday, from 25 to 50. Russian tour companies identified 164 hotels, 80 of which are in Hurghada and 84 in Sharm el-Sheikh, for tourist reservations. The same conditions apply in Hurghada, but the minimum trip price starts from 51,1500 rubles (LE11,000). The Russian Air Transport Agency granted eight Russian airlines permits to operate flights to the Red Sea resort towns. Aeroflot, S7, Ural Airlines, Azur Air, Nordwind, IKAR, Red Wings, and Yamal airlines are all planning to run flights from the Russia to Egypt, according to Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived Wednesday afternoon in Egypt on an official visit. He was received in the presidential hall at Cairo International Airport by Egyptian Youth Minister Ashraf Sobhi, a delegation from the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Egyptian Ambassador to Palestine Tarek Tayel, and the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, its permanent representative to the Arab League Diab al-Louh. Accompanying Abbas on his visit to Cairo are Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad al-Maliki, member of the Central Committee of Fatah movement Hussein al-Sheikh, the head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, Major General Majid Faraj, and the president’s advisor for diplomatic affairs Majdi al-Khalidi. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Palestinian President Abbas in Ramallah earlier in May to discuss Egypt’s role in supporting and building on the Gaza ceasefire. He added that two also discussed efforts related to reconstructing the Gaza Strip and providing development support to the rest of the Palestinian territories.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok anticipates that a solution to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will soon be reached “within the framework of international law”, and praised an initiative presented by Algeria to solve the crisis. Algeria had called for a direct meeting between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to reach a solution to their differences over the issue. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his optimism about the success of the Algerian initiative regarding the GERD, calling on the countries concerned to “respond” and “show wisdom and logic in order to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.”During a television interview with the Saudi al-Sharq channel on Sunday, Hamdok said that his country “appreciates the efforts of the Algerian leaders” in the initiative they presented to solve GERD crisis. “Sudan is at the greatest risk if anything happens to the GERD,” he said. Hamdok slammed any suggestion of a military solution to the contentious issues with Ethiopia over the border and the dam, stressing that “negotiation and dialogue remain the basic solution to differences with Ethiopia.”“We are neighbors to Ethiopia, linked by land, geography, history and common relations, and I assure these issues can be resolved through dialogue.”The Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, made an African tour at the end of July which included Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt to get acquainted with the positions of all parties regarding the issue, and was briefed on developments in the region.

He said in a meeting with Egypt’s Minister of State for Military Production Mohamed Ahmed Morsi in Cairo that there is a mutual understanding between the two sides regarding the need to boost bilateral relations in the various industrial and economic fields. Attending the meeting, Hong Jin-wook, South Korea’s ambassador in Egypt, hailed the remarkable activity of the Military Production Ministry in backing national and developmental projects in Egypt. South Korean Foreign Minister Suh Wook also met on Tuesday with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Suh, for his part, praised the great national projects being established in Egypt under the leadership of President Sisi. According to the spokesman, the meeting also reviewed military and security cooperation between the two countries, especially in the industrial and technological domains.