Middle East & North Africa

11 Aug 2020; MEMO: An Algerian court on Monday sentenced a journalist and activist to three years in prison on charges of harming national unity, a rights group that defends detainees said.

The court in the capital, Algiers, also handed a four-month jail sentence to two other activists for the same charges, according to the National Committee for the Release of Detainees. Justice Ministry officials could not be reached for comment.

11 Aug 2020; MEMO: Egypt has set-up a high follow-up committee to check dangerous shipments in all of its airports, Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Manar announced on Sunday.

11 Aug 2020; MEMO: With 3,484 new coronavirus cases, Iraq on Monday reported the highest-ever daily COVID-19 infections, according to the Health Ministry, reports Anadolu Agency.

Meanwhile, the ministry reported 72 additional fatalities from the virus.

Monday’s figures bring the total case count to 153,599 and the number of fatalities to 5,464, along with 109,790 recoveries.

11 Aug 2020; MEMO: Kuwait’s government is working to address the labour market imbalance and its impact on the country’s demographics, a local paper has said, adding that a plan to tackle this will be presented on Saturday.

The Minister of Social Affairs and Labour and Minister of State for Economic Affairs, Maryam Al-Aqeel, will present the action plan during the human resources development meeting.

11 Aug 2020; MEMO: The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement is talking with Qatar about the renewal of its grant for the besieged Gaza Strip, local media reported on Monday. The talks are taking place amidst growing tension between Hamas and the Israeli occupation authorities.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s prime minister stepped down from his job Monday in the wake of the catastrophic explosion in Beirut that has triggered public outrage, saying he has come to the conclusion that corruption in the country is “bigger than the state.”

The move risks opening the way to dragged-out negotiations over a new Cabinet amid urgent calls for reform. It follows a weekend of anti-government protests after the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut’s port that decimated the facility and caused widespread destruction, killing at least 160 people and injuring about 6,000 others.

10 Aug 2020; MEMO: The weekly meeting of the Israeli cabinet due to be held yesterday was cancelled over a row among government coalition partners, local media reported.

Ynet News said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party claims that coalition partners Blue and White refused to put the new coronavirus rescue package on the agenda, while the latter said the move is a mere political manoeuvre for Netanyahu to find a way to call for snap elections.

10 Aug 2020; MEMO: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has visited the Lebanese Embassy in Tehran to express his condolences following last week’s devastating blast at Beirut Port which has now claimed the lives of 200 people and wounded at least 5,000.

10 Aug 2020; MEMO: Chairman of Jerusalem’s Committee in the Palestinian Legislative Council, MP Ahmed Abu Halabiyeh, yesterday condemned Israel’s expropriation of part of Al-Ibrahimi Mosque, Quds Press reported.

“Stripping [Palestinian Authority]’s municipality of Hebron from its supervision over Al-Ibrahimi Mosque and handing it over to the Settlement Planning Council is a new crime of judaisation,” the MP said in a statement.

10 Aug 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s oil giant, Aramco, yesterday said its net profits for the second quarter of this year had dropped by 73.4 per cent, resulting from a global decline in crude oil prices.

The state-owned company said in a statement that its profits had declined by 50 per cent in the first quarter of the year, to $23.2 billion compared to $46.9 billion during the previous year.