CAIRO: Egypt and Australia have discussed boosting cooperation in mining, energy transformation projects, reducing emissions and green hydrogen.

Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek El-Molla and Australian Environment and Climate Action Minister Reece Whitby met on the sidelines of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.

El-Molla said modern mining technology was important to preserve the environment, especially Australia’s, advanced expertise. 

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian leadership is focusing on increased diplomatic efforts to limit the actions of Israel’s radical right-wing government whose agenda includes further weakening the Palestinian Authority. 

Palestinian sources said that Hady Amr, US deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs at the US Department of State, will arrive in Ramallah on Monday to meet Palestinian officials. He may meet President Mahmoud Abbas.

BAGHDAD: Lebanon extradited a man said to be a grandnephew of Saddam Hussein to Iraq, where he is accused of involvement in a massacre by Daesh group, a security source said Saturday.
Abdullah Sabawi, dubbed the “grandnephew” of the executed dictator by Iraqi media, was extradited on Wednesday, the security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“He is accused of having been a member of Daesh and having participated in the Speicher massacre” of 2014, in which up to 1,700 air force cadets were executed by the militant group, the source added.

LONDON: Jordan’s Queen Rania Al-Abdullah urged the international community to shift its response to the world’s multiplying crises on Friday at the Paris Peace Forum, Jordan News Agency reported. 

In her address to the fifth edition of the forum, Queen Rania stated that the world is facing “a convergence of crises,” including the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, climate change, inequality and a general erosion of trust. 

“Yet, too often, we are failing to meet our common threats with a spirit of common cause,” she said.

PARIS: Iranian security forces have killed at least 326 people in a crackdown on nationwide protests since Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, Iran Human Rights said in an updated toll Saturday.
The Islamic republic has been gripped by protests that erupted over the death of Amini on September 16, three days after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.
The protests were fanned by fury over the dress rules for women, but have grown into a broad movement against the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.