Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM, Apr 25 (NNN-PNA) – The Israeli foreign minister said yesterday that, Israel is “committed” to the status quo, that bans Jews from praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the focal point of recent clashes in Jerusalem.

“Israel is committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount,” Yair Lapid said, during a press briefing, using the Israeli name of the site which is holy to both Muslims and Jews.

“Muslims pray on the Temple Mount, non-Muslims visit. There is no change,” he said. “We have no plans to divide the Temple Mount between religions.”

TRIPOLI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Libyan authorities have arrested 541 illegal migrants in the city of Misurata, some 250 km east of the capital Tripoli, as they were attempting to cross the Mediterranean sea towards Europe.

The migrants were arrested at the shore and taken to the Tariq al-Matar reception center in Tripoli, where they will receive humanitarian assistance before being deported to their home countries, said Abdussalam Alewan, director of the center.

ADDIS ABABA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The African Union on Monday sent a congratulatory message to Emmanuel Macron on his re-election as French President.

"I extend my warm congratulations to President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election," AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat tweeted.

"I'm happy to continue our commitment with him to build renewed and mutually beneficial relations between Africa and France and more broadly with Europe," Mahamat said.

24 April 2022; MEMO: Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said he plans to float a proposal to parliament to criminalize the normalization of relations with Israel, Anadolu Agency reported.

"One of the main reasons that prompted me to have the Sadrist movement run in elections again was the issue of normalization and Israeli ambitions to dominate our beloved Iraq," al-Sadr said in a Twitter post.

25 April 2022; MEMO: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune yesterday renewed his support for the Libyan government led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

"Dbeibeh's government possesses international legitimacy," Tebboune told reporters in Algiers, adding that his country would not "host a summit that deliberates a conflict over legitimacy between Dbeibeh's government and the government of Fathi Bashagha."

25 April 2022; MEMO: The Palestinian Union in Latin America condemned on Sunday Israeli restrictions on Christians' access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied Jerusalem, Quds Press has reported. The union denounced the obstacles imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities to hinder Christian celebrations during the Orthodox Easter period.

25 April 2022; MEMO: Spokesperson for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, has described the fifth round of talks between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia as "very positive and constructive".

25 April 2022; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday rejected US President Joe Biden's commemoration of the 107th anniversary of the Armenian genocide when 1.5 million Armenians were killed in World War I during the era of the Ottoman Empire.

"We reject such statements and decisions to distort historical facts for political motives, and we condemn those who insist on this mistake," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that Biden has repeated the same mistake he made last year.

Tehran, Apr 25 (AP) Iran's state television said authorities have foiled massive cyberattacks that sought to target public services, both government and privately owned.

The report late on Sunday said Iran thwarted the attacks that planned to target the infrastructure of more than 100 public sector agencies. It did not elaborate or name specific examples of public sector agencies, organizations or services but said the incidents happened in recent days.

ANKARA, April 23. /TASS/: Turkey closed its air space to Russian military and civilian planes flying to Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists during his Latin American tour.