Middle East & North Africa

RAMALLAH, Feb 18 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ishtaye, said yesterday that, the high rate of voter registration, reflects “the eagerness of the voters, mainly the youths, to participate in the Palestinian political process.”

“Youths want to exercise their right to choose their representatives and shape their future, by participating in the democratic process based on the foundations of freedom, political pluralism and national partnership,” Ishtaye said, in a press statement.

CAIRO, Feb 18 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, held talks yesterday with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on boosting security and economic cooperation between the two countries, said the Egyptian presidency in a statement.

Sisi and Qureshi discussed bolstering ties between Egypt and Pakistan “especially in terms of security and economic cooperation, and trade and investment exchange.”

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Lebanese court on Thursday removed Judge Fadi Sawan from the Beirut port explosion probe after a request from two lawmakers charged over the blast in a move likely to further delay an investigation that has faced fierce political opposition.

Lebanese people are still waiting for answers more than six months since a stockpile of ammonium nitrate, stored unsafely for years at the port, detonated, killing 200 people, injuring thousands and devastating entire districts.

18 Feb 2021; MEMO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is resisting pressure from Egypt and Jordan to reconcile with former Fatah security head Mohammed Dahlan, Al Jazeera Arabic news website reported on Wednesday. Dahlan is regarded as a serious rival to Abbas for the leadership of the movement, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority.

18 Feb 2021; MEMO: A pro-Iran armed militia calling itself "Saraya Awliya Al-Dam" yesterday claimed responsibility for the missile attack that targeted Erbil International Airport on Monday in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

"At exactly 9:15 pm our members carried out a qualitative operation against the American occupation in our beloved north," the group said in a statement, claiming the airport's C-RAM counter- missile system failed to intercept the missiles.

18 Feb 2021; MEMO: The Central Elections Committee said that 2.6 million Palestinians had registered to take part in the first presidential and parliamentary elections in 15 years.

On its website, the committee said that this represents 93.3 per cent of Palestinians who have the right to cast their votes in the elections.

"This number reflects the Palestinians' desire to take part in the elections," the committee said, noting that the registration was carried out without problems.

18 Feb 2021; MEMO: The authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested well-known scholar Aisha Al-Muhajiri, reportedly because she has continued to preach and teach the Qur'an at her home in the holy city of Makkah. The 65 year old was said to have been arrested by "20 members of the Saudi intelligence service."

BEIRUT (AP) — The deaths stacked up: a policeman shot dead with a pistol equipped with a silencer, a local official gunned down, his son wounded, an Iraqi man beheaded. In total, 20 men and women were killed last month in the sprawling camp in northeastern Syria housing families of the Islamic State group.

CAIRO, Feb 17 (NNN-MENA) – Arab League (AL) Secretary-General, Aboul-Gheit, and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, discussed developments in Palestine and Israel, in light of the upcoming elections in the two countries.

During a phone conversation, Aboul-Gheit and the new UN envoy exchanged views on the recent developments in the region, ahead of major Palestinian and Israeli elections in the coming months.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has summoned its ambassador to Ethiopia for consultations over the latest developments in the ties between both countries, a spokesman for the Sudanese foreign ministry told Reuters on Wednesday.

Sudan’s foreign ministry had said on Sunday that Ethiopian forces crossed into Sudanese territory in an act of “aggression”, but the spokesman did not specify if consultations would be about that particular incident.