CAIRO: Libya’s chief prosecutor said Saturday he would establish a fact-finding mission to investigate a meeting last month between the foreign minister of one of the country’s rival governments and Israel’s chief diplomat.
The Aug. 22 meeting caused an uproar across the North African nation. Najla Mangoush, the foreign minister of the Tripoli-based government, and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met in Rome in the first-ever between top diplomats of Libya and Israel.

TEHRAN: Naval forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have seized a ship “carrying smuggled fuel” in the Gulf and arrested four crew members, local media reportedon Saturday.
“More than 50,000 liters of smuggled fuel were discovered” on board on the ship, Fars news agency quoted the chief justice of the coastal Hormozgan province, Mojtaba Ghahramani, as saying.
He said the Revolutionary Guards Corps navy had “confiscated” the ship and “arrested four people” during the operation.

ALGIERS: A Polisario Front commander and three Sahrawi fighters were killed in the disputed Western Sahara as a US delegation visited the region, the official Saharawi news agency SPS reported.
The Western Sahara dispute dates back to 1975, when colonial ruler Spain withdrew from the territory, sparking a 15-year war between Morocco and the Polisario which seeks the territory’s independence.

KIRKUK, Iraq: At least one civilian was killed and eight other people were injured Saturday during rival protests in the multi-ethnic Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a local official said, amid days of brewing tensions.
The identity and the circumstances surrounding the death were not immediately clear, the director of the local health authority Ziad Khalaf told AFP, adding that those injured had been hit by bullets, stones or glass.
He said a member of the security forces was among the injured.

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s prime minister on Saturday inaugurated construction work on what is slated to become the first railway line connecting the country to neighboring Iran, a major political and economic partner.