11 July 2020; MEMO: Details of human trafficking in Kuwait which saw the arrest of an MP from Bangladesh suggests that the scandal is not simply a case of one single rogue lawmaker. It now seems that Dhaka’s very own ambassador to the Gulf state is embroiled in criminal activity normally associated with the criminal underworld.
11 July 2020; MEMO: Hours after a landmark court ruling Friday, the Turkish government confirmed that Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia will be reopened for worship after an 85-year hiatus.
The nearly 1,500-year-old architectural gem will be transferred to the state Religious Affairs Directorate under a presidential decree, according to a Friday announcement in the Official Gazette.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran is determined to develop its oil industry in spite of U.S. sanctions imposed on the country, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in a televised speech on Saturday.
“We will not surrender under any circumstances ... We have to increase our capacity so that when necessary with full strength we can enter the market and revive our market share,” said Zanganeh.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s parliament passed a law on Saturday on changing the structure of bar associations, a move that lawyers argue will further undermine judicial independence in a country where they say the judiciary is already in disarray.
Thousands of lawyers have protested in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities against the plan, saying it aims to silence some of the few institutions still speaking out against the government’s record on rule of law and human rights.
11 July 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has stoked controversy after it was revealed that it gave permission for Vogue Arabia to conduct a raunchy photoshoot of international supermodels within the historical site of Al-Ula in the province of Madina.
JERUSALEM (AP) — With an unprecedented new surge in coronavirus cases battering Israel’s economy, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest confidants was dispatched to a TV studio recently to calm the nerves of a jittery nation. Instead, he dismissed expressions of some of the public’s economic pain as “BS.”
The flippant comment by Cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi is symptomatic of what critics see as a bloated, out-of-touch government. It also has become a rallying cry for anti-Netanyahu protests spreading, like the virus, across the country.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The president of Turkey on Friday formally converted Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia back into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had made the religious landmark a museum.
The decision sparked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians. Originally a cathedral, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque after Istanbul’s conquest by the Ottoman Empire but had been a museum for the last 86 years, drawing millions of tourists annually.
Tehran, July 10, IRNA – Referring to railway connection of Chabahar and Zahedan in southeastern Iran, Managing-General of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (IRIR) Saeed Rasouli said on Friday that this route can be used for transfer of cargos from CIS countries and provide railway transit between India and Russia.
Following an order by the minister of Road and Urban Development, Rail laying operation between Zahedan and Chabahar began on Tuesday.
This strategic railway will be 628km long, Rasouli said.
BALIKESIR, 10 July 2020; MEMO: Turkey on Thursday rescued 57 asylum seekers, including women and children, who were pushed back by Greek forces into Turkish territorial waters, according to security sources.
In a rescue operation, the Turkish Coast Guard rescued the asylum seekers, who set off for the Greek island of Lesbos, in the Aegean off the coast of Ayvalik in the Balikesir province.
RAMALLAH, July 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Israeli troops killed a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The ministry did not give any details as to the circumstances of the killing, stating only that “a civilian was killed by Israeli forces” after being shot in the neck at Kifl Hares, a village south of Nablus.
Provincial governor Abdullah Kamil named the victim as Ibrahim Moustapha Abou Yacoub, 29.
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