Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran on Tuesday launched a coronavirus inoculation campaign among healthcare professionals with recently delivered Russian Sputnik V vaccines as the country struggles to stem the worst outbreak of the pandemic in the Middle East with its death toll nearing 59,000.

At a ceremony marking the start of the campaign, Parsa Namaki, son of Health Minister Saeed Namaki, received his first dose. The minister said the vaccination would be simultaneously carried out in more than 600 medical centers across the country.

08 Feb 2021; MEMO: Top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq met today for talks on developments in the region, Egypt's official news agency reported.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry welcomed his Jordanian and Iraqi counterparts Ayman Safadi and Fouad Hussein in Cairo to discuss ways of "pushing forward the frameworks of tripartite cooperation and promoting joint Arab action."

08 Feb 2021; MEMO: Israeli settlers attacked the Palestine TV crew this morning while they were filming near the illegal settlement of Ariel, built on land seized from Salfit in the north of the West Bank.

08 Feb 2021; MEMO: Defence minister Benny Gantz slammed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for saying corruption cases brought against him are "falling apart", i24 News reported.

"The judges and only they will determine the date of the hearing, the method in which to conduct it and the verdict," Gantz tweeted. "Netanyahu, Israel has an honest and strong judicial system even if you do not like it."

08 Feb 2021; MEMO: United Nations Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed on Monday how to make progress toward a nationwide ceasefire and reviving the political process in Yemen, a UN spokesman said, Reuters reported.

A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing government forces fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis. The more than six-year long conflict is widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

08 Feb 2021; MEMO: France's escape from acknowledging its colonial crimes will not last long, the Algerian government said Monday, Anadolu Agency reports.

"France's escape from recognising its colonial crimes in Algeria cannot last long. A criminal usually does everything possible to avoid admitting his crimes," Information Minister Ammar Belhimer said in a statement released by state-run daily El-Massa.

JERUSALEM, Feb 8 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israel’s annual budget deficit reached a record of 166.4 billion new shekels (about 50.6 billion U.S. dollars), said a report published by the Israeli Ministry of Finance yesterday.

The deficit figure, between Feb, 2020 and Jan, 2021, accounts for 12.1 percent of Israel’s GDP, much higher than the government’s target of three percent.

For the first month of 2021, the Israeli budget deficit reached 100 million shekels, compared with a surplus of 5.9 billion shekels recorded in Jan, 2020.

TEHRAN, Feb 8 (NNN-IRNA) – Senior Assistant to the Iranian Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs, Ali-Asghar Khaji, and the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, held talks in Tehran yesterday, it was officially reported.

08 Feb 2021; MEMO: The United Nations special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, yesterday arrived in Iran on an official visit to discuss efforts to bring peace to Yemen, his office said in a statement.

During the two-day visit, Griffiths will meet with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and a number of Iranian officials.

08 Feb 2021; MEMO: A forum was held in Khartoum on Saturday to support the normalisation of relations between Sudan and Israel, in the first such move in the country, reported Anadolu Agency.

In a statement, the forum organisers said the aim of the event was to "enhance tolerance and social peace in Sudan, promote national and human values, and call for peaceful coexistence".