Middle East & North Africa

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s president has sacked the country’s prime minister, who was the first woman to hold that job in an Arab League nation.

A brief statement from the presidential office late Tuesday did not give reasons for the dismissal of Najla Bouden Ramadhane. President Kais Saied had appointed the engineering school professor as Tunisia’s first female prime minister in September 2021.

Her replacement is retired central bank director Ahmed Hachani, who was sworn in Tuesday night.

31 July 2023; MEMO: Israel's Supreme Court, on Monday, said all 15 judges, in an historic first, would take part in a hearing on arguments against a law Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist government passed as part of an overhaul of the judiciary, Reuters reports.

31 July 2023; MEMO: The Taliban-run Afghanistan administration said, on Monday, it had met US Special Representative, Tom West, in Qatar and discussed the lifting of travel and other restrictions on Taliban leaders and the return of Afghan Central Bank assets parked abroad, Reuters reports.

01 August 2023; MEMO: Indonesia has bought 12 new drones from Turkish Aerospace worth $300 million, its Defence Ministry said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of purchases aimed at modernising the country's ageing military equipment, Reuters reports.

The deal comes after Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, in July warned his cabinet to maintain a "healthy" budget as he highlighted outsized spending by the country's security agencies, including the Defence Ministry.

01 August 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has approved a $1.2 billion grant to Yemen's internationally-recognised government, led by the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), as part of efforts to prop up the war-torn country's flagging economy, AFP reported citing two officials.

According to the sources, Yemen's finance minister and central bank governor as well as the Saudi ambassador are expected to disclose details of the grant at a signing ceremony in Riyadh at 5pm (1400 GMT).

01 August 2023; MEMO: Turkiye's monthly inflation is seen at 9.1 per cent in July due to various tax hikes and the lira's sharp depreciation, a Reuters poll showed.

According to the poll, the annual reading is expected to rebound sharply to 47.3 per cent after declining for eight months.

Economists' year-end forecasts were also revised sharply higher to 59.9 per cent, as inflation is expected to continue climbing for the rest of the year, the poll added.

02 August 2023; MEMO: Turkiye and Egypt have agreed to boost bilateral trade from $10 billion to $15 billion over the next five years, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said yesterday.

This came after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Samir Saleh, and the accompanying delegation in Ankara.

Speaking to reporters after the closed meeting, Bolat said there is great potential for cooperation between the two countries, noting that Egypt is Turkiye's leading trading partner in Africa.

02 August 2023; MEMO: Israel yesterday submitted an official complaint against Lebanon at the United Nations Security Council, demanding the Lebanese government and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) take immediate action to prevent Hezbollah's ongoing construction of military infrastructure on Israel's northern border, Anadolu news agency reported.

02 August 2023; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied last night sacked Prime Minister Najla Bouden and appointed a former official in the Central Bank, Ahmed Hachani, as her successor.

No reason was given for Saied's decision, but local media highlighted Saied's dissatisfaction with shortages in commodities in local markets, particularly the lack of bread in state-subsidised bakeries.

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 1 (NNN-KUNA) – Flag carrier, Kuwait Airways, registered a 30-percent increase in passenger ticket and onboard revenues, for the first half of 2023, from the same period last year.

The first six months saw passenger traffic onboard the “Blue Bird,” the airline’s fleet, jump by 45 percent, while flight operation capacity increased by 34 percent, the report quoted Kuwait Airways Chairman, Ali Al-Dukhan’s statement, as saying.