24 April 2020; MEMO: Dozens of demonstrators broke coronavirus lockdown orders last night to protest in front of the Lebanese Central Bank in Beirut, after the country’s currency, the Lira, went into freefall.
24 April 2020; MEMO: Syria’s representative to the UN, Dr Bashar Al-Jaafari, has reiterated the Arab Republic’s right to reclaim the occupied-Golan Heights, adding that regaining it up to the 4 June 1967 line is guaranteed by international law and remains a priority for the Syrian government. The territory was seized from Syria towards the end of the Six Day War and later officially annexed it in 1981.
TEHRAN, April 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief warned the US of a “decisive response” after President Donald Trump said he instructed the US Navy to “shoot down” Iranian boats that harass American ships in the Gulf.
“We declare to the Americans that we are absolutely determined and serious… and that all action will be met with a decisive response that will be efficient and quick,” Major General Hossein Salami told state television.
JERUSALEM, April 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — Israel will transfer an emergency aid package of 55 million new shekels (about 15.6 million U.S. dollars) to 73 Arab local authorities, the state’s Ministry of Interior said.
The decision was taken by Israel’s ministries of interior and finance to help 1.1 million Arab residents during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which starts Friday, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the total amount, 30 million shekels will be allocated as food coupons to be distributed to needy families.
JERUSALEM, April 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) —The use by Israel’s police of mobile-phone location data to enforce quarantine has been halted because of privacy concerns.
The government had approved the use of such data for a limited time, to make sure those ordered to self-isolate were doing so.
But now an oversight group in Israel’s parliament blocked an attempt to extend the emergency measures past this week.
A committee member said the harm done to privacy outweighed the benefits.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long a lifeline for families back home, migrant workers in oil-rich Gulf Arab states now find themselves trapped by the coronavirus pandemic, losing jobs, running out of money and desperate to return to their home countries as COVID-19 stalks their labor camps.
Whether on the island of Bahrain, hidden in the industrial neighborhoods behind Dubai’s skyscrapers or in landlocked cities of Saudi Arabia, a growing number of workers have contracted the virus or been forced into mass quarantines. Many have been put on unpaid leave or fired.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Ziad Abdallah has watched with growing alarm as Lebanon’s financial meltdown has threatened the savings he spent 25 years building up in his dollar account.
First his Lebanese bank reduced dollar withdrawals, then it stopped them entirely. Now the central bank has issued rules saying any withdrawals must be in the collapsing Lebanese pound at a rate likely to mean he will face a loss.
23 April 2020; MEMO: The US embassy in Cairo has written a press statement calling on Beijing to release people detained unjustly.
The statement asks that human rights lawyer Wang Quanchang be allowed to move freely including joining his family in Beijing now that he has been released from unfair detention.
Wang was detained as part of a campaign against over 300 lawyers and human rights activists in July 2015.
23 April 2020; MEMO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the falling oil prices will have the least impact on the Islamic Republic compared to other countries, because Tehran is less dependent than others on crude oil exports for revenues, the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) reported.
23 April 2020; MEMO: Leader of Israel’s Labor Party, Amir Peretz, yesterday declared that his party would not vote in favour of the plan to annex the occupied West Bank, the Israel Broadcasting Corporation (Kan) reported.
He also said that he would exert as much effort as he can in order to undermine this plan or any other unilateral measure.
Peretz’s remarks came in response to criticism following his party’s decision to join a coalition government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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