Middle East & North Africa

03 Dec 2020; MEMO:  The Tunisian government decided on Wednesday to reopen roads and production sites that had been closed following protests that took place two weeks ago.

This came during a meeting held at the government headquarters with the participation of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, Defence Minister Brahim Bartagi, Minister of Justice Mohamed Boussetta and Interior Minister Tawfiq Sharaf Al-Din to discuss the security situation in the country, according to a statement issued by Mechichi.

02 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Israel edged closer on Wednesday towards a fourth national election in two years after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main governing partner, Benny Gantz, backed an opposition move to dissolve parliament, Reuters reports.

Parliament gave preliminary approval to a dissolution bill, but the legislation needs to pass three as yet unscheduled votes to become law, giving Netanyahu and Gantz, the defence minister, more time to work out differences over a national budget.

02 Dec 2020; MEMO:  An American official said Israel is behind the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist, CNN reported Wednesday, Anadolu reports.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed Friday on the outskirts of Tehran.

The anonymous official from President Donald Trump's administration told the network that Tel Aviv authorities have long pursued the scientist but did not say whether the Trump administration knew about the attack.

03 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Several US company owners have expressed their eagerness to invest technical expertise and financial resources to help rebuild the infrastructure and economy in Libya. This came during a virtual meeting held on Tuesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in Libya (AmCham Libya), with the participation of Washington's Ambassador to Tripoli Richard Norland, according to a statement issued by the US embassy.

03 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Legal adviser to the Sudanese victims of the Emirati Black Shield Company Omar Al-Obaid announced on Tuesday that he is preparing to file regional and international lawsuits against ten prominent Emirati, Sudanese and Libyan personalities for human trafficking.

03 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Lebanese President Michel Aoun expressed on Wednesday that the difficulties of the demarcation of maritime borders with Israel can be solved.

His remarks came during a meeting at the presidential palace with head of the US delegation, Ambassador John Deroche, mediating in indirect negotiations to demarcate southern maritime borders.

02 Dec 2020; MEMO:  An Israeli bus driver killed two Palestinian workers this morning in an apparent hit-and-run incident in the occupied West Bank, reported Wafa news agency.

CAIRO, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala al-Saeed, said on Wednesday that the economic reform program that Egypt adopted in 2016 enabled the government to face up to the negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minster made the remarks in a speech during the second Egypt Economic Summit held under the auspices of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

BEIRUT, Dec 2 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, denied accusations of corruption, while assuring that he is assuming his full duties and responsibilities to the Lebanese people.

“There exist institutions that can hold the corrupt people and politicians accountable for their wrongdoings. The easiest thing to do is to throw accusations at the central bank governor, because he is independent and he is not affiliated with any political party,” Salameh was quoted by the Al-Hadath news channel as saying, in a televised interview.

RIYADH, Dec 2 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, denied any role of his country, in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

He responded to allegation by Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, claiming the murder of the scientist was a Saudi Arabia-U.S.-Israel plot.

It is not the policy of Saudi Arabia to engage in assassinations, al-Jubeir said.

Fakhrizadeh was assassinated last Friday, near the Iranian capital, Tehran, by “armed terrorists,” Iranian Ministry of Defence, said.