Middle East & North Africa

RAMALLAH, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called on the United Nations to help arrange an international conference for peace in the Middle East.

Abbas made this appeal in his online speech from Ramallah to the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Abbas hasn't been able to attend the UN annual conference.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s prime minister-designate resigned Saturday amid a political impasse over government formation, dealing a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to break a dangerous stalemate in the crisis-hit country.

The announcement by Moustapha Adib nearly a month after he was appointed to the job further delays the prospect of getting the foreign economic assistance needed to rescue the country from collapse. Adib told reporters he was stepping down after it became clear that the kind of Cabinet he wished to form was “bound to fail.”

Tehran, Sept 26, IRNA – Iran’s National Information Network does not aim to replace the worldwide web, Head of Civil Defense Organization Brigadier-General Gholamreza Jalali said on Saturday.

“We will need a common understanding of the issue and its importance in order to be able to fully establish a National Information Network,” Jalali said.

Tehran, Sept 26, IRNA – Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that the Israeli stockpiles of nuclear warheads posed the biggest threat to peace and security, urging the responsible nations to stand for nuke-free-world.

"The International Day for the Total Elimination of #NuclearWeapons, provides an opportunity for the int'l community to re-emphasize on its commitment to nuke disarmament as a priority," Foreign Ministry wrote in its Twitter account on Saturday.

With its solid technology infrastructure and great potential at its bag, Turkey is going to be racing to the top within 10 years, the deputy technology and industry minister expressed his strong belief during Teknofest, Turkey's largest aerospace and technology event.

The National Technology Move under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has boosted Turkey's technology infrastructure and environment, Mehmet Fatih Kacir told Anadolu Agency in Gaziantep, a southern city hosting four-day event through Sunday.

26 Sep 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the construction of 5,000 new settlement units in an Israeli Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported on Friday.

According to the news website of Israeli TV Channel 7, Netanyahu has called for the Israeli High Council of Planning and Building to be convened in the West Bank after the Jewish holidays.

26 Sep 2020; MEMO: The US Army has sent 70 trucks to Syria through the Al-Waleed border crossing with Iraq, local sources said Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

The convoy, including 12 armoured vehicles, trucks with essential supplies, and several fuel tankers, went to US bases in Syria’s Hasakah, Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zour provinces on Thursday, according to the sources, who requested anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

26 Sep 2020; MEMO: The State of Qatar refused to assume the presidency of the 154th regular session of the Arab League at the ministerial level instead of Palestine, which has recently resigned from the position.

Qatar announced in a statement on Thursday evening: “We apologise for completing the aforementioned session, which the State of Palestine abandoned, while adhering to the right of the State of Qatar to the next presidency of the 155th session of March 2021.”

26 Sep 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies have threatened to impose emergency regulations to prevent anti-Netanyahu protests, after failing to pass restrictions on coronavirus law.

MARIB (Yemen), Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hadi Ahmed wearily sets up a tent in Yemen’s Marib province, after fleeing fighting yet again in the government’s last northern stronghold which is under intense pressure from Houthi rebels.

The Iran-backed fighters have long held the capital Sanaa which lies just 120 kilometres away and are mounting a fierce campaign to take the oil-rich province.