Middle East & North Africa

18 May 2022; MEMO: An Indian expat has been fired from his job in Qatar and deported following comments he made, that nurses from his home state of Kerala were being sent to Gulf states to become "sex slaves for terrorists".

The man, identified as Sisupalan Durgadas, appeared in a video which surfaced online and made the remarks while taking part in a Hindu religious event in the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram.

18 May 2022; MEMO: The Israeli military is to take part in a large-scale military exercise later this month called "Chariots of Fire", according to an announcement yesterday.

Part of the drill will include an "Iran aerial exercise" which is scheduled to take place in the final week of the month-long drill and will simulate a wide-ranging regional conflict, Israeli officials said.

18 May 2022; MEMO: A newly-elected Lebanese Member of Parliament has come under heavy criticism over a tweet she posted in the past which called for the "genocide" of Syrians within Lebanon.

Cynthia Zarazir, who early this week won a parliamentary seat for the opposition Li Watani [For My Nation] list in the first district of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, is being criticised for her tweet in a Twitter post she wrote back in 2016, which has re-emerged following her election.

18 May 2022; MEMO: Israeli police have arrested one of the Palestinian pallbearers beaten by officers at the funeral of slain Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, the detained man's lawyer said on Wednesday, and Reuters reports.

A police spokesperson confirmed the arrest of Amro Abu Khdair, but said it was not connected to Friday's funeral. He declined to give the reason for the man's arrest.

19 May 2022; MEMO: A rare £100 Palestine banknote discovered in a charity shop in the UK has sold for £140,000 ($174,000).

During the British Mandate of Palestine in 1927, the note was issued to high-ranking officials.

Paul Wyman, an Oxfam volunteer, spotted the unusual note in a box of items donated to the charity's Brentwood branch in Essex, according to the Independent.

19 May 2022; MEMO: Some 140 senior Indian journalists have sent a joint letter to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in which they condemned the Israeli army's targeting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

19 May 2022; MEMO: A recent poll conducted by research group Israeli Congress, which studies Israeli society, has found that mistrust and hostility between Arabs and Jews in Israel is increasing, the Jerusalem Post has reported.

19 May 2022; MEMO: Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Al-Hajraf, yesterday welcomed the European Union's adoption of a Joint Communication on a Strategic Partnership with the Gulf.

ANKARA, May 18. /TASS/: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expects that NATO will show an understanding about such sensitive for Ankara issues as security and border protection, Erdogan said in the parliament on Wednesday.

JERUSALEM, May 18 (Reuters) - Israel police have arrested one of the Palestinian pallbearers beaten by officers at the funeral of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the detained man's lawyer said on Wednesday.

A police spokesperson confirmed the arrest of Amro Abu Khdair but said it was not connected to Friday's funeral. He declined to give the reason for the man's arrest.