Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran welcomes any initiative that could stop the war in Yemen and remove blockade on the impoverished country, Iran's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"Yemen has faced the biggest humanitarian crisis as a result of a destructive war," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

For five years, the war and "the aggressors' simultaneous aerial, naval, and land blockade" on Yemen have blocked humanitarian assistance to the people on the Arab state, said Mousavi.

TRIPOLI, March 27 (Xinhua) -- An official of the United Nations children's agency on Thursday called on the warring parties in Libya to halt fighting and instead focus on combatting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Appalled that instead of respecting call for humanitarian truce, warring parties fighting more in Tripoli. Spare your children and families. Fight only the invisible common enemy covid19," UNICEF Special Representative in Libya Abdel-Rahman Ghandour tweeted.

CAIRO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday reported 2,389 more cases of COVID-19 infection, as the total number reached 29,406. Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabia-hosted Group of 20 (G20) virtual summit called for joint global efforts to defeat the virus.

Iran reported 157 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising the country's death toll from the virus to 2,234. So far a total of 10,457 patients have recovered since the first cases were detected on Feb. 19.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief rival was chosen on Thursday as the new speaker of parliament, an unexpected step that could pave the way to a power-sharing deal between the two men as the country grapples with a worsening coronavirus crisis.

26 Mar 2020; MEMO: Egypt hopes to turn public schools into hospitals and isolation areas for coronavirus patients, in the event of an increase in the number of infection cases, the Egyptian Information Minister, Osama Heikal, announced yesterday.

26 Mar 2020; MEMO: On Wednesday, Knesset Speaker Yuli Adelstein submitted his resignation hours before the deadline set by the Supreme Court to hold parliamentary elections that would determine his successor.

26 Mar 2020; MEMO: Turkey is to help Tunisia in its battle against the coronavirus outbreak, a senior official of Ennahda Movement revealed on Wednesday.

The Head of the Political Bureau of the Islamist movement, Noureddine Al-Arbawi, told Arabi21.com that Ennahda leader Rachid Al-Ghannouchi spoke with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to agree on the assistance. Al-Arbawi pointed out that Turkey’s help will be coordinated by the ministers of health of both countries.

26 Mar 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned yesterday that deaths from coronavirus could reach 10,000 by next month, Israeli media reported.

“We could reach a million infected within a month,” he told Israeli Channel 12 News. “There could also be 10,000 dead Israelis.”

During a six-hour meeting on the telephone with other Israeli ministers, Netanyahu presented what he called the Health Ministry’s “nightmare scenario,” warning of the huge number of infections and deaths.

26 Mar 2020; MEMO: Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Adnan Al-Zurufi has started consultations to form a government without the Shia parties which rejected his designation, Anadolu reported yesterday.

Faleh Al-Ziyadi, an MP from Al-Nasr Alliance which has 42 seats out of 329 in the parliament, told Anadolu that the Shia blocs did not agree on the designation of Al-Zurufi.

26 Mar 2020; MEMO: Tunisia’s Trade Minister has accused Italy of seizing a shipment of medical alcohol en route to Tunisia from China. “What happened to this shipment is similar to the Czechs stealing a cargo of medical face masks that China sent to Italy to help combat the coronavirus,” explained Mohamed Msilini in televised comments on Monday evening. “Today, all European countries are hysterical, and all of them are stealing equipment for fear of this virus.”