Middle East & North Africa

23 July 2020; MEMO: Israel saw a record rise in coronavirus infections on Wednesday, with 1,977 new cases, according to the country’s Health Ministry, Anadolu reports.

A ministry statement said three people succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 54,663, including 430 deaths, and 22,647 recoveries.

Earlier this month, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein warned that the government might impose a lockdown if the country sees a surge of 2,000 cases a day.

23 July 2020; MEMO: Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced long-awaited economic and political reforms on Wednesday aimed at rescuing the country’s economy and keeping its civilian transition on track after the ouster of Omar al-Bashir last year, Reuters reports.

23 July 2020; MEMO: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to urge Lebanon to enact badly-needed reforms to help get the country out of an acute financial crisis during a visit to Beirut which started on Thursday with a meeting with President Michel Aoun, Reuters reports.

23 July 2020; MEMO: Egyptians yesterday launched the Arabic hashtag “I did not delegate” to express their rejection of Parliament’s decision to authorise President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to send forces outside the country under the pretext of “preserving national security”.

23 July 2020; MEMO: Dr Hanan Ashrawi, member of the PLO’s Executive Committee today condemned Israel’s arrest of cultural figures in east Jerusalem. She said: “The raid by Israeli forces of various Palestinian cultural centers in occupied Jerusalem is the latest of a long history of targeting everything Palestinian in our occupied capital.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Lebanon on Thursday to urge the government to enact badly-needed reforms to help steer the country out of an acute financial crisis.

The crisis, rooted in decades of state corruption and waste, marks the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the 1975-90 civil war. A collapsing currency has led to soaring inflation and poverty and savers have lost free access to accounts in a paralysed banking system.

23 July 2020; MEMO: Egypt’s decision to approve the deployment of its army to its western borders is a “declaration of war” against Libya and a violation of the Arab League and UN charters, Libyan Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha said on Tuesday.

“Egyptian parliament approval of troops deployment outside its western borders is a declaration of war on Libya and violates Arab League and UN charters,” Bashagha said late Tuesday in a tweet which he later removed.

20 July 2020; MEMO: Israeli soldiers demolished a Palestinian security checkpoint used to test for coronavirus in the occupied West Bank, according to Wafa news agency.

The checkpoint was set up by Palestinian security forces at the entrance to the occupied West Bank city of Jenin to prevent the spread of the virus.

Dubai, Jul 23 (AP/PTI) Kuwait's 91-year-old ruling emir left Thursday morning for the United States to seek further medical care after recently undergoing surgery, its state-run news agency reported.

Kuwait has yet to elaborate on what required Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to seek a previously unannounced medical treatment beginning Saturday and a surgery Sunday. However, Sheikh Sabah's sudden surgery could inspire a renewed power struggle within Kuwait's ruling family.

22 July 2020; MEMO: Egypt’s economic growth will slow to 3.1 per cent in the 2020/2021 fiscal year, according to a Reuters poll.

Growth is down due to the country’s coronavirus pandemic, which has negatively affected tourism revenues.

As the price of gas has fallen, expat Egyptians living in the oil rich Gulf states have sent fewer remittances back home.