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13 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iran said on Tuesday it would begin enriching uranium to 60% purity, a move that would take the fissile material much closer to the 90% suitable for a nuclear bomb, a day after Tehran accused arch-foe Israel of sabotaging a key nuclear site, Reuters reported.

14 Apr 2021; MEMO: The Central Bank of Kuwait today said on its website it has instructed local banks to appoint Kuwaitis in "leadership positions", as part of a drive to create more job opportunities for the country's nationals.

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday said that the country has set a target of having 20,000 Indian students in France by 2025.

There were 10,000 Indian students studying in the European nation in 2019, according to officials at the French Embassy.

"We have set a target -- it is to have 20,000 Indian students in France by 2025, and we will make it. We want to bring French and Indian youth even closer," Minister Le Drian said.

12 Apr 2021; MEMO: Turkey has frozen a lucrative deal to buy €70 million ($83 million) of helicopters from Italy after the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "dictator" last Thursday, according to reports by Italian newspapers yesterday.

12 Apr 2021; MEMO: Tunisian Minister of Finance and Investment Ali Al-Kali announced that public debt has reached its highest level, amounting to 16 billion Tunisian dinars ($5.7 billion).

In a statement to Watania 1, Al-Kali said: "Tunisia's budget deficit is mainly related to paying back old loans, which prompted the government to borrow more funds to bridge the debts."

12 Apr 2021; MEMO: Saudi oil company Aramco signed a $12.4 billion deal for the sale of a 49 per cent stake in a newly formed oil pipeline venture to a consortium led by Washington-based EIG Global Energy Partners, the UK-based energy agency Argus Media reports.

The agreement is Aramco's largest since its 2019 listing on the Tadawul (Saudi Stock Exchange) when it raised more than $29 billion.

12 Apr 2021; MEMO: Ever Given, the ship that blocked the vital Suez Canal waterway for almost a week, will remain in the hands of Egyptian authorities until compensation is paid to the country's officials, the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), Osama Rabie, announced yesterday.

"We hope for a speedy agreement," Rabie told local media, adding that the "minute they agree to compensation, the vessel will be allowed to move."

12 Apr 2021; MEMO: Russia is temporarily suspending regular and charter flights with Turkey, Moscow announced Monday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The suspension over COVID-19 concerns will last from April 15 to June 1, said Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.

Flights will resume if developments in the pandemic show a positive trend, she added, speaking at a video conference with other members of the government,

13 Apr 2021; MEMO: More than 24 Sudanese political parties announced their rejection of normalising relations with the occupation and the abolition of Israel boycott law.

This came after the Sudanese cabinet approved a bill to cancel the 1958 Israel boycott law, which was approved by Arab countries at the time, in an expected step after the rapprochement between Khartoum and Tel Aviv in recent months.

Washington, Apr 13 (PTI) A top Republican Senator has said that imposing CAATSA sanctions on India for buying the multi-billion-dollar S-400 missile system from Russia would be a geostrategic victory for Moscow.

Senator Todd Young, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in the Foreign Policy magazine that if the Joe Biden administration imposes sanctions on India, it would weaken two strategic fronts at a critical time -- undermine Washington's relationship with India and also affect the QUAD's ability to counter China.