Western Asia

President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and Yemen's powerful Shiite militia agreed Jan. 21 to end a deadly confrontation that had raised fears the impoverished but strategic country might descend into chaos.
      

French energy giant Total is expected to abandon its search for oil and gas off Cyprus, the island?s Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Wednesday.

He said the government had been informed last September that Total has failed to locate any targets to test drill in the blocks it is licensed to exploit.

Cypriot lenders Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank said on Tuesday they had no material impact from the Swiss National Bank?s decision to scrap its cap on the Swiss franc against the euro.

Bank of Cyprus, the country?s largest lender, said its lending exposure in Swiss francs totaled 1.09 billion euros on December 31, representing 4.6 percent of total gross loans.

Cyprus has appointed Citigroup Global Markets as advisers for the privatization of state telecoms firm Cyta, authorities said on Tuesday.

Privatization of the telecoms company, which holds a dominant position in the Cypriot market, is a condition of Cyprus?s 10-billion-euro bailout brokered in 2013 from the Eueropean Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Russia might deliver a long-overdue S-300 air defence missile system to Iran, honouring a contract that was cancelled in 2010 following strong pressure from the West, Iranian and Russian media said on Jan. 20.
   

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has called on all Armenians to jointly seek ways to resolve their historical differences with Turkey, stressing that it is a must for Turks and Armenians to "engage in humane relations and to recognize each other in light of 800 years of common history."

Leaders of Israel's 1.7 million Arabs declared a general strike throughout the country on Jan. 20 in protest at the recent deaths of two Bedouin men in confrontations with police.
      

More than 561 million copies of books were published in Turkey last year, according to a recently released report from the Turkish Publishers' Union. The figure equaled over seven books for every citizen of the country.

Lebanese laws and courts governing marriage and child custody "discriminate against women" from all religious groups, often trapping them in abusive unions, a Human Rights Watch report published Jan. 19 said.
      

A trade seal dating back to the Urartian era has been unearthed during archaeological excavations at the Tepeköy mound in the eastern province of Mu?'s Varto district.

Ahlat Museum Director Ziya K?l?nç said 18 artifacts had been unearthed in the excavations that ended on Dec. 29, 2014.