Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iraq has put forward a proposal for holding talks between Tehran and Cairo at political and security levels to restore relations between the two countries, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.

The senior diplomat made the remarks in an interview with Iran's Mizan news agency, which was published on Saturday.

Amir-Abdollahian said the proposal was made by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, whom he met on the sidelines of a regional conference held this week in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

23 Dec 2022; MEMO: The United States Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations Robert Wood has called on the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad to "constructively" participate in the Syrian Constitutional Committee meetings.

23 Dec 2022; MEMO: As pilgrims from around the world flock to Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth for Christmas, members of Gaza's Christian community wait to hear whether Israel will grant them a travel permit, Reuters reported.

This year, Israeli authorities have approved travel for nearly 600 Palestinian Christians in Gaza, according to COGAT, a unit in Israel's defence ministry that coordinates civilian issues with Palestinians.

The African Union (AU) said that the absence of political and partisan consensus in Tunisia is a crucial matter that led to the low turnout in the elections, and it called for the launch of a comprehensive dialogue between the various political components.

23 Dec 2022; MEMO: An Israeli citizen arrested in Abu Dhabi ten days ago on charges of assaulting police officers was granted release from custody after paying the court fine of 65,000 dirhams ($17,700).

It comes after the court decided against imprisonment and instead ordered 21-year-old Nachman Gabai to be deported from the country, reported the Times of Israel. He was held in custody until his family was able to pay the fine.

23 Dec 2022; MEMO: American public relations firm, Edelman, has received some $10 million for helping Saudi Arabia clean up its image, according to the Guardian. ​

Richard Edelman, CEO of the $1 billion firm, signed deals with the kingdom over the past four years to sanitise its image despite being a leading campaigner against doing business with autocratic regimes.

23 Dec 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday criticised Greece over its hostile approach toward migrants.

"The attitude of our western neighbor Greece toward migrants has now reached the level of brutality," Erdogan said in his address to the inaugural congress of the Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of the Islamic World in Istanbul.

Unfortunately, the Western countries are not responding to "this brutality of Greece," the Turkish leader lamented.

23 Dec 2022; MEMO: Turkiye will continue to fight terrorists in Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday in a phone call with his US counterpart.

Discussing the latest developments in Syria with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Cavusoglu emphasised that Turkiye's fight against terrorism will continue with determination, according to a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

NICOSIA, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- About 550,000 voters will go to the polls in Cyprus on Feb. 12, 2023, to elect a new state president, who will succeed incumbent Nicos Anastasiades, according to a decree published here on Friday.

The decree, issued by the chief election officer, set Jan. 5, 2023, for the official submission of candidacies for the post.

Outgoing President Anastasiades, 76, has said he will not seek re-election after two terms in office.

Ten people have already announced their candidacies.

KFAR QASSEM, Israel (AP) — Israeli police on Friday shot dead an Arab assailant who they said lured officers into an ambush in which he rammed them with his car after trying to shoot them, an attack that left three policemen wounded in central Israel.

The incident took place in the Arab Israeli town of Kfar Qassem, an unusual site for what police suspected was a “nationalistic” militant attack. The Arab community in Israel is also struggling with surging violent crime that residents blame on decades of government neglect.