Middle East & North Africa

MANAMA (Reuters) - An Israeli delegation accompanied by the U.S. treasury secretary arrived in Bahrain on Sunday to formalise nascent relations and broaden Gulf cooperation that Washington has promoted as an anti-Iran bulwark and potential economic bonanza.

Bahrain followed the United Arab Emirates in agreeing last month to normalise ties with Israel, stunning Palestinians who had demanded statehood before any such regional rapprochement.

MANAMA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- A high-level U.S.-Israeli delegation arrived in Manama, capital of Bahrain on Sunday to sign a deal to advance full diplomatic relations between Israel and Bahrain.

The joint delegation includes Israel's National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin.

They were welcomed at the Bahrain International Airport by Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani.

18 Oct 2020; MEMO: The Turkish president on Saturday announced the discovery of an additional 85 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Black Sea, following a historic find this summer, reports Anadolu Agency. 

“Total amount of natural gas reserves in the TUNA-1 well in Sakarya Gas Field reached 405 billion cubic meters,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after his inspections at the drill ship Fatih.

18 Oct 2020; MEMO: A total of 79 patients, including infants and children, were brought to Turkey on Saturday for treatment upon the request of Iraqi authorities, Anadolu Agency reports.

The patients will be treated for heart, eye, plastic reconstructive and general surgery diseases.

The project that Medicana Hospitals have been conducting with the Iraqi Health Ministry for the last 10 years had been paused due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

18 Oct 2020; MEMO: The head of the Iranian Commission of National-Security and Foreign-Policy, Mojtaba Zonnour, asked support from members of parliament to begin a dismissal investigation of President Hassan Rouhani, Anadolu Agency reports.

Zonnour made the request by claiming Rouhani is responsible for the problems in Iran.

He said studies for Rouhani’s dismissal is still underway.

18 Oct 2020; MEMO: An arms embargo imposed since 2007 by the UN Security Council (UNSC) ended Sunday, according to Iran’s foreign ministry, Anadolu Agency reports.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Turkish Cypriots began voting Sunday in a leadership runoff between an incumbent who pledges a course less bound by Turkey’s dictates and a challenger who favors even closer ties to Ankara. The stakes have soared as a battle over energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean has intensified.

Veteran incumbent Mustafa Akinci, 72, is a champion of Turkish Cypriots who oppose Turkey’s complete domination of their affairs. His hard-line challenger Ersin Tatar, 60, advocates fully aligning Turkish Cypriot policies with those of Turkey, the region’s patron.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night, resuming the weekly protest against the Israeli leader after emergency restrictions imposed as part of a coronavirus lockdown were lifted.

The protests were curtailed last month after Israel imposed new lockdown measures in response to a new virus outbreak. The emergency regulations blocked Israelis from traveling to Jerusalem to protest and allowed people only to attend smaller demonstrations within one kilometer (half a mile) of their home.

ISTANBUL, Oct 17 (NNN-Xinhua) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to enhance cooperation in a wide range of areas amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Ukraine and Turkey are ready to develop their strategic partnership in every field in which they have mutual benefits,” Erdogan told reporters at a Friday joint press conference in Istanbul.

RAMALLAH, Oct 17 (NNN-WAFA) – Dozens of Palestinians were wounded, by rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas, in clashes with Israeli soldiers, in the West Bank yesterday, medical sources, said.

Witnesses said that, clashes broke out when the Israeli army dispersed the anti-settlement protests, held every Friday, in several villages in the West Bank.

Medical sources said, Israeli soldiers wounded three Palestinians with rubber-coated metal bullets, in the village of Burqa, in the east of the city of Ramallah.