RABAT — The Moroccan airport authority (ONDA) announced on Friday the extension of the international flight ban for one more month to January 31, 2022.

During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, the North African country has extended the state of health emergency throughout the country until January 31, 2022.

The suspension of international passenger flights and the closure of Morocco’s air borders came into force on Nov. 29, in order to curb the spread of the new COVID-19 variant omicron.

It has also stopped the repatriation flights of its nationals stranded abroad, launched between December 15 to 23 from Portugal, Turkey, and the UAE. (Morocco-Flights-Ban)

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ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday urged all the sectors to cut their exorbitant prices as the national currency rebounded.

Addressing economists and academics in Turkey’s financial hub Istanbul, Erdogan said the government would track down the companies and sellers, “including those in the second-hand automotive and housing sectors,” who do not lower their prices.

“I would like to remind you that I will be a follower of those who increases their price tags several times a day,” he warned.

“The bubble on the foreign exchange rates dispersed in a day” with the new measures taken to protect savings from the fluctuations of the national currency, the Turkish president noted. (Turkey-Lira-Forex)

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CAIRO — Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation has signed an investment agreement with Italian energy group Eni for oil exploration in the Gulf of Suez and Nile Delta regions, which is worth no fewer than 1 billion U.S. dollars, the Egyptian Petroleum Ministry said Friday.

The deal is part of the ministry’s strategy to increase productivity and to face the natural decline in the wells by using the latest technologies in oil-producing sectors, the ministry said.

“The ministry’s strategy also aims at encouraging partners to pump more investments into oil and gas exploration and to boost the country’s oil reserves,” it added. (Egypt-Italy-Oil)

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TEHRAN — A top Iranian commander said on Friday that the five-day drill in the southern parts of the country was a response to recent threats by Israel, Tasnim news agency reported.

Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri said recent threats from some Israeli officials prompted the Iranian side to hold the war game, dubbed “Great Prophet 17,” at this time.

He noted that the war game was among Iran’s most successful missile exercises so far.

The drill was held in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the coastal areas of the southern Iranian provinces of Hormuzgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan. (Iran-Israel-Military drill)