Middle East & North Africa

19 May 2023; MEMO: Every handshake would count, and Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad had plenty of them at Friday's Arab League Summit – along with hugs and kisses – from his one time foes in the region, Reuters reports.

As he strolled into the Summit venue in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Friday afternoon, a beaming Assad extended his arms to Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who grabbed them both and kissed Assad once on each cheek.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, May 19 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was given a warm welcome at an Arab summit on Friday, winning a hug from Saudi Arabia's crown prince at a meeting of leaders who had shunned him for years, in a policy shift opposed by the U.S. and other Western powers.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shook hands with a beaming Assad as the summit got underway in Jeddah, turning the page on enmity towards a leader who drew on support from Shi'ite Iran and Russia to beat back his foes in Syria's civil war.

TEHRAN, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran's foreign minister on Friday urged Taliban to allow the visit of Iranian technical teams to Afghanistan's Kajakai Dam to measure its water level and verify drought claims.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a post on his Twitter page, reacting to Taliban's claims that the low water level of the Hirmand River is the reason for their failure to honor Iran's water rights under a 1973 treaty.

The Hirmand Treaty between Iran and Afghanistan entitled the former to receive 20 million cubic meters of water from the river per year.

JEDDAH, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The 32nd Arab League Summit kicked off in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Friday with the participation of Arab leaders to discuss regional and global issues that are crucial to the region's stability.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the summit for the first time since his country was suspended from the Arab League after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

ADDIS ABABA, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Experts and policymakers attending a high-level seminar on China-Africa cooperation on Thursday called for fostering new highlights in China-Africa ties under the umbrella of the African Union (AU).

The seminar, held in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, gathered AU Commission (AUC) officials, African diplomats, diplomats from the Chinese Mission to the AU, academia and experts, among others.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon on Friday received an Interpol notice for the country’s embattled central bank governor who failed to show up in Paris earlier in the week for questioning in a key corruption case, officials said.

France, Germany, and Luxembourg are investigating the governor, Riad Salameh, and his associates over myriad financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and the laundering of $330 million. A French investigative judge on Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for Salameh after he did not answer summons for questioning in Paris.

CAIRO (AP) — In a symbolic gesture, Sudan’s top army general on Friday fired the paramilitary leader — his former ally turned rival — as the deputy of the country’s governing body, state media reported.

The dismissal by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan of Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces, from the Sovereignty Council comes as the two fueding generals continue to battle for control over this troubled African country.

The monthlong conflict has killed at least 705 people, the World Health organization said Friday.

18 May 2023; MEMO: A new report by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor) has revealed a significant disparity in the treatment of unaccompanied minors of asylum seekers compared to the accompanied ones in Europe. This included depriving the unaccompanied minors of legal protections, detaining them, and the insufficiency of services provided to them in several European countries.

18 May 2023; MEMO: Legislation has been put forward at New York's state assembly which would prevent registered charities from sending tens of millions of dollars per year to help fund illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian Territories.

18 May 2023; MEMO: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is heading to Saudi Arabia's Jeddah to attend the Arab League's 32nd Summit, which will be held on Friday, 19 May, in his first visit to the Kingdom since before the outbreak of the 2011 uprising.

The official Syrian news agency, SANA, reported that Assad's participation in the Arab Summit comes after he received an official invitation from the Saudi King, Salman Bin Abdulaziz.