Middle East & North Africa

23 Sep 2022; MEMO: Riadh Chaibi, the adviser to the president of Ennahda Movement and a leader in the opposition National Salvation Front said that the movement is innocent of the "dispatch" case, noting that the purpose of raising this case is an attempt to defame the movement. He also confirmed that Tunisia is on the brink of a "social explosion" that could topple the existing authority and cause widespread turmoil in the country.

23 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Afek Tounes Party announced, on Thursday, its intention to boycott the early legislative elections on 17th December.

By so doing, Afeq Tounes becomes the eleventh party to announce its boycott of the elections after Ennahda, Heart of Tunisia, Dignity Coalition, Movement Party, Al Amal, the Republican Party, Workers' Party, Democratic Modernist Pole, Democratic Current, and the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties.

23 Sep 2022; MEMO: Syrian authorities have found 34 dead and 14 survivors from a migrant boat near the coastal city of Tartous, that survivors said had left from northern Lebanon, Samer Qubrusli, the Director-General of ports, told Reuters.

RAMALLAH, Sept 22 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestine is counting on mobilising the support of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), for the Palestinian cause and saving the two-state solution, which is threatened by Israeli policies, Palestinian media reported yesterday.

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently in New York to participate in the 77th session of the UNGA, held a series of meetings with UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez and Norway’s Foreign Minister, Anken Hoetfeldt.

ANKARA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will convene a top tier economy-focused meeting on Friday at which Russian payment system Mir and possible Western sanctions will be discussed, two sources with information on the matter told Reuters.

The meeting with government officials and others will also address agreements with Russia, recent heavy volatility on the Istanbul stock exchange and the general economic situation, the sources said, requesting anonymity.

CAIRO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- As the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rates by 0.75 percentage points on Wednesday, the third such rate hike in a row and the fifth increase in a year, Middle Eastern countries look set to suffer more from their already dramatic depreciation in the local currency and high inflation.

On Thursday, the Turkish lira was trading at a record low of 18.42 to the U.S. dollar, having plunged more than 50 percent from a year ago and more than 35 percent since the beginning of this year.

ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU), has called on Ugandan authorities to intensify surveillance and control measures as the country reported an outbreak of the Ebola virus disease.

The Africa CDC made the call after Uganda on Tuesday declared an Ebola virus disease outbreak in Mubende district in the central part of the country, following a confirmed case in Mubende regional referral hospital.

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) — Nablus was a battered city. Shops gaped open to the street, their windows smashed. Street signs were overturned. Ash stained the roads. Armored vehicles roamed the city center, still pockmarked and splattered with paint from a day of protests.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Clashes between Iranian security forces and protesters angry over the death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody have killed at least nine people since the violence erupted over the weekend, according to a tally Thursday by The Associated Press.

The scope of Iran’s ongoing unrest, the worst in several years, still remains unclear as protesters in at least a dozen cities — venting anger over social repression and the country’s mounting crises — continue to encounter security and paramilitary forces.

21 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Iranian Oil Ministry said that a gas purchase and gas swap deal between Iran and Russia will be announced soon.

Tehran is set to import up to 9,600,000 cubic metres per day of Russian gas through Azerbaijan, according to a statement issued by Iranian Oil Ministry on Monday.