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24 Nov 2020; MEMO: US-brokered Israeli-Lebanese talks on the countries 'maritime borders have reached a dead end due to conflicting positions, Israel Hayom reported yesterday.

On Sunday, following the fallout of the talks, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Lebanese President Michel Aoun traded barbs, the paper said.

Washington, Nov 24 (PTI) US President-elect Joe Biden is planning to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yallen as his Treasury Secretary to lead his economic response to the raging coronavirus pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on the world's biggest economy and led millions of Americans to lose their jobs.

A formal announcement on 74-year-old Yellen would be made soon, according to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. The Treasury Secretary is fifth in the presidential line of succession.

Mumbai, Nov 24 (PTI) The Mumbai Police on Tuesday filed a charge sheet in a court here in the alleged TRP (Television Rating Points) rigging scam.

The charge sheet was submitted before a magistrate's court by the police's Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), which is conducting a probe into the case, an official said.

The crime branch has so far arrested 12 persons, including Republic TV's distribution head and owners of two other channels, in connection with the case, he said.

23 Nov 2020; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday urged the European Union (EU) to keep its promises to establish closer cooperation.

"We call on the European Union to keep the promises made to our country from full membership to migration, so we can build a closer, more efficient cooperation," Erdogan told his ruling Justice and Development Party during a virtual meeting, Anadolu Agency reported.

23 Nov 2020; MEMO: The number of passenger ships and yachts crossing the Suez Canal decreased 44.4 per cent over the last ten months compared to the same period in 2019, Al-Mal newspaper reported yesterday.

According to the newspaper, this was as a result of coronavirus lockdowns and the subsequent drop in global oil sales and tourism.

The newspaper reported that 164 passenger ships and yachts crossed the vital waterway between January and October, compared to 295 in the same period last year.

New Delhi/Riyadh, Nov 22 (PTI) G20 leaders announced on Sunday that India will host the summit of the high-profile grouping in 2023 -- a year later than what was decided earlier.

India was earlier slated to host the summit in 2022 with the Osaka declaration of the G20 stating last year that "we look forward to meeting again in Saudi Arabia in 2020, in Italy in 2021 and in India in 2022".

Tehran, Nov 22, IRNA – Iran’s exports to the European Union have grown by 13 percent over the first nine months of 2020 compared to the previous year's corresponding period, according to a report by Tehran Chamber of Commerce.

Iran exported some €563 million of commodities to the European Union in the nine-month period, the report said.

The report, however, said that Iran's imports from the European Union stood at €2.78 billion which showed a 15 percent decrease compared to the same period last year.  

22 Nov 2020; MEMO: Turkey reiterated its call Saturday for dialogue with Greece regarding its seismic research activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said Greece issued another statement “reiterating the known claims and objections of Oruc Reis [seismic research vessel] regarding the seismic research activity carried out on the Turkish continental shelf.”

21 Nov 2020; MEMO: Israel has accused Lebanon of backtracking on its position on the demarcation of the maritime borders between the two countries in the Mediterranean and warned of a "dead end" in the talks that might lead to obstructing oil exploration projects.

Lebanon and Israel, while officially at war, last week concluded the third round of negotiations under the auspices of the US and the United Nations (UN), and decided to hold the fourth round in December.

22 Nov 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is planning to invest more than 20 billion riyals ($5.3 billion) in artificial intelligence by 2030, Chairman of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) Abdullah Bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi announced yesterday.