Middle East & North Africa

BEIRUT, Sept 20 (NNN-NNA) – The Lebanese pound, yesterday, sank to a new historic low against the U.S. dollar, on the parallel market, as the country continues to suffer from a steep financial crisis and political deadlock.

The exchange rate of the Lebanese pound declined to 39,000 against the dollar, down from the previous record low of 36,600 on Sept 13, Elnashra news website reported.

TUNIS, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's prosecution service on Tuesday detained Ali Larayedh, a former prime minister, on his suspicion of sending jihadists to Syria.

Prosecutors decided to detain Larayedh, also vice-president of the Ennahdha Party after he was questioned for hours by investigators from the Interior Ministry for his suspicion of sending jihadists to Syria, Larayedh's lawyer Samir Dilou said in a statement.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A top United Nations official on Tuesday demanded an independent investigation into the death of an Iranian woman held by the country’s morality police as authorities acknowledged making arrests at protests over the incident.

The woman’s death has ignited demonstrations across Iran, including the capital, Tehran, where demonstrators chanted against the government and clashed with police.

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at the highest rate in 10 years to 7.5 per cent in 2022, with an expected surplus in the state's budget of about 6.3 per cent, according to credit rating agency S&P.

S&P expects the Saudi economy's productive capacity to grow in the long run due to the development of general finances and significant economic reforms.

20 Sep 2022; MEMO: Member of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkiye (DEIK) and President of the Turkiye-Qatar Business Council Basar Arıoglu said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) railway link project would link Qatar with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq and could reach Turkiye. This would connect Doha with Europe, the Middle East and China.

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: The United States is stalling in giving its approval for Israel to sell Arrow 3 missile defence system to Germany, the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported on Sunday.

German Chancellor Ulf Schulz had sought during his visit to Israel six months ago to purchase Israeli missiles, which is developed in coordination with the US and with US funding.

20 Sep 2022; MEMO: Five Tunisian parties yesterday announced their boycott of the legislative elections which President Kais Saied called to be held in December.

This came during a press conference held in the capital, Tunis, by the Republican Party, Workers' Party, Democratic Modernist Pole, Democratic Current and the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties.

Palestinian farmer Sulaiman Al-Nabahin had been struggling to grow trees on his farm and found he had to keep digging deeper and deeper to set his plants into the earth, until one day he hit something solid.

20 Sep 2022; MEMO: The lawyers of Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi and his deputy Ali Larayedh have been prevented from attending their interrogation by the security services in Tunisia, Anadolu has reported.

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Syrian Ministry of Health said that the total number of confirmed deaths by cholera in Syria has reached 14 in addition to 201 infected persons, according to the official Syrian News Agency (SANA).

The 14 deaths include 11 in Aleppo, two in Deir ez-Zor and one in Hasaka.

The 201 cholera cases include 153 in Aleppo alone, 21 in Hasaka, 14 in Deir ez-Zor, 10 in Lathakia, two in Damascus, and one in Homs.