Middle East & North Africa

BEIRUT, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Ministry of Economy and Trade launched Monday a UN-supported plan to reboot the country's ailing economy.

The plan, with support from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), identified short-term actions in three key sectors, namely agribusiness, tourism, and the digital economy, to "initiate recovery by rapidly generating employment opportunities and additional income," said an ESCWA statement.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded publicly on Monday to the biggest protests in Iran in years, breaking weeks of silence to condemn what he called “rioting” and accuse the United States and Israel of planning the protests.

The unrest, ignited by the death of a young woman in the custody of Iran’s morality police, is flaring up across the country for a third week despite government efforts to crack down.

3 October 2022; MEMO: Yemen's Houthis on Saturday warned foreign oil companies working in areas controlled by the internationally recognised government to cease operating or risk coming under attack.

The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV reported that the head of the group's Supreme Council, Mahdi Al-Mashat, issued instructions to prepare official communications to all foreign companies and entities involved in "looting Yemen's sovereign wealth" to immediately cease their activities.

3 October 2022; MEMO: The Presidential Pardon Committee in Egypt yesterday announced the release of a new batch of political prisoners who are being held in "pretrial detention".

A statement by the committee, published by its member, lawyer Tariq Al-Awadi, on Facebook, revealed that "releases are carried out on Sunday and Monday in coordination with the relevant agencies." He did not provide details of how many people would be released.

2 October 2022; MEMO: An Iranian pilgrim arrested by Saudi authorities during the Hajj pilgrimage in July has been released by Riyadh following mediation by Iraq and Oman, Anadolu Agency reported.

The news was delivered to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian by his Iraqi and Omani counterparts in separate calls on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry on Sunday.

3 October 2022; MEMO: Regional rivals Algeria and Morocco plan to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) after Guinea was stripped of the right to organise the football tournament.

Algerian Minister of Youth and Sports, Abderrazak Sebgag, said the North African country will apply to host the prestigious continental competition, which only Algeria hosted once in 1990.

3 October 2022; MEMO: The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) announced yesterday that it has agreed to invest €2.43 billion ($2.43 billion) in the German multinational energy company RWE AG (RWE) to support the company's accelerated "Growing Green" strategy, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).

QIA CEO, Mansour Bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, affirmed his support for RWE's vision to be a leader in the global renewable energy market.

TUNIS, Oct 2 (NNN-TAP) — Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Othman Jerandi said Tunisia is fully ready to host the Summit of the Francophonie and it will bring together all the means, logistical materials and content to ensure the success of this event.

He expressed the hope that the Tunisia Summit, which coincides with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Francophonie, would be a turning point for Francophone cooperation.

RAMALLAH, Oct 2 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), yesterday warned that, the Israeli settlement construction took “centre stage,” in the electoral campaigns of the right-wing and extreme-right parties in Israel.

In a special report, the PLO’s National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said, the Palestinians view the approval of new settlement plans or the legalisation of existing outposts as new settlements “as an attempt to win the votes of settlers through the absolute exploitation of the stakeholders.”

ADEN, Oct 2 (NNN-YPA) – An updated UN proposal, calling for an extension of the existing truce, set to expire today, has been received by both sides of Yemen’s warring parties, but its fate remains unclear.

According to a government statement, released by Yemen’s state-run Saba news agency, yesterday, “the government has just received an updated proposal from the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, to expand the truce starting from today.”