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10 Oct 2020; MEMO: Downplaying the impact of new US sanctions on Iranian banks, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Friday said the move is a “political propaganda” to appease domestic audience in the US, Anadolu reports.

Speaking to the head of Iran’s Central Bank, Rouhani struck a defiant tone, saying the new US sanctions targeting Iranian financial institutions “cannot break the resistance of Iranians”.

10 Oct 2020; MEMO: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri warned on Thursday evening of the imminent danger of a civil war in the country.

This came in an interview with MTV (a local private TV channel), in which Hariri asserted: “Hezbollah is behind the crisis in Lebanon.”

Washington, Oct 10 (PTI) China has amassed 60,000 troops on India's northern border, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said as he hit out at Beijing for its "bad behaviour" and the threats it poses to the Quad countries.

The foreign ministers from the Indo-Pacific nations known as the Quad group - the US, Japan, India and Australia - met in Tokyo on Tuesday in what was their first in-person talks since the coronavirus pandemic began.

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he will bring diplomatic accords with the United Arab Emirates before the Israeli parliament on Oct. 12, Reuters reports.

Israel and the UAE signed agreements in Washington in September to normalize diplomatic ties and to forge a broad new relationship.

Netanyahu said he intends to get cabinet and parliamentary ratification for the deal, which marks a strategic realignment of Middle East countries against Iran.

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: The United States on Thursday slapped fresh sanctions on Iran’s financial sector, targeting 18 Iranian banks in an effort to further shut Iran out of the global banking system as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran weeks ahead of the US election, Reuters reports.

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that his country would not stay in Syria indefinitely, pointing out that the Turkish military presence in Qatar “serves the Gulf stability.”

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: Turkish official media reported that the foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece met on Thursday for the first time since tensions erupted between the two member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), over the eastern Mediterranean’s energy rights and maritime borders demarcation.

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: Turkey’s Central Bank increased the Turkish lira interest rate for swap transactions by 150 basis points on Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

The rate, the bank uses in weekly currency swaps, rose to 11.75 per cent from 10.25 per cent, according to information obtained by an Anadolu Agency reporter.

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has reportedly threatened to return Bangladeshi workers from the kingdom if the country does not issue passports to some 54,000 Rohingya Muslims who have been living in the kingdom for decades.

Jakarta, Oct 9 (AP/PTI) Protests in many Indonesian cities turned violent Thursday as thousands of enraged students and workers criticized a new law they say will cripple labour rights and harm the environment.

Clashes between rock-throwing demonstrators and riot police broke out near Jakarta's presidential palace as police tried to disperse the protesters, including workers and high school and university students.

President Joko Widodo is visiting Central Kalimantan province and was not in the palace.