Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM (AP) — Five years after Israel signed a landmark agreement to develop large offshore gas fields over the objections of antitrust authorities, environmentalists and consumer advocates, ordinary Israelis have yet to see the windfall promised by the government.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A leftist incumbent will take on a hard-line challenger in a runoff to decide who will lead Turkish Cypriots in overcoming deep political chasms with rival Greek Cypriots to end a nearly half-century of ethnic division in Cyprus and quell tensions over offshore energy reserves.

With all votes tallied, right-wing candidate Ersin Tatar came out on top with 32.35% of ballots cast, edging out incumbent Mustafa Akinci with 29.84%. Neither garnered the required majority to win outright. Center-left candidate Tufan Erhurman trailed in third place with 21.68%.

CAIRO, October 11. /TASS/: The navies of Egypt and Russia are preparing to hold joint exercises in the Black Sea in the near future, the Al Arabiya TV channel reported on Saturday.

An Egyptian military expert, Maj. Gen. Gamal Mazlum told TASS that it would be the first-ever Russian-Egyptian naval exercise.

"Egyptian forces will arrive to the Black Sea via the international transit straits of Bosphorus and Dardanelles," he said. "In the course of the maneuvers, the sides will practice joint combat tasks according to advanced warfighting tactics."

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has asked his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to press Armenia to abide by the terms of a Russian-brokered truce in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Turkish foreign ministry said on Sunday.

The ceasefire, clinched after marathon talks in Moscow advocated by President Vladimir Putin, was meant to halt fighting to allow ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azeri forces to swap prisoners and war dead.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An array of Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups have agreed to suspend rocket attacks on U.S. forces on condition that Iraq’s government presents a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops, one of the groups said on Sunday.

“The factions have presented a conditional ceasefire,” said Mohammed Mohi, spokesman for the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group.

“It includes all factions of the (anti-U.S.) resistance, including those who have been targeting U.S. forces,” he told Reuters.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The director-general of Israel’s finance ministry plans to step down in the coming weeks, the ministry said on Sunday, the latest in a series of senior economic officials to resign in recent months.

11 Oct 2020; MEMO: Saudi Prince Abdulrahman Bin Musa’ad has called for boycotting Turkish imports after Turkish President Erdogan announced that his country’s army in Qatar helps stabilise security in the Gulf states.

According to The New Khalij, the prince retweeted Erdogan’s remarks and wrote: “Therefore, I call for a full popular boycott for the Turkish products in order to protect the stability of Turkish economy and strengthen it.”

11 Oct 2020; MEMO: The Israeli occupation police have prevented Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque and performing Friday prayer for the third consecutive week, Anadolu Agency reported.

Eyewitnesses disclosed that the Israeli occupation police were deployed at the outer entrances of Jerusalem’s Old City and prevented every Palestinian from entering into the area.

Only Palestinian residents of the Old City were allowed to enter the mosque and perform Friday prayer.

11 Oct 2020; MEMO: The Russian and Egyptian Navies are set to hold joint military drills in the waters of the Black Sea before the end of this year, a press release announced on Thursday.

Delegations of the Russian and Egyptians Navies held meetings in the Russian city of Novorossiysk, and agreed on arrangements for the drills.

11 Oct 2020; MEMO: As the financial situation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) worsens, the PA asked Qatar to mediate for Israel to help end the crisis of unpaid tax revenues, Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Friday.

An informed source told the London-based newspaper that PA officials met Qatari officials in Doha and discussed the issue of unpaid tax revenues estimated at over a billion US dollars.