TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians were voting for a new parliament Friday, with turnout seen as a key measure of support for Iran’s leadership as sanctions weigh on the economy and isolate the country diplomatically.
The disqualification of some 9,000 potential candidates, most of them reformists and moderates, raised the possibility of lower-than-usual turnout.
20 February 2020; AFP: Anti-headscarf campaigner Shaparak Shajarizadeh once believed in the potential for change in Iran but is now so despondent she is calling for a boycott of Friday's parliamentary elections in the Islamic Republic.
Shajarizadeh became a dissident in 2018 when she was arrested for repeatedly removing her headscarf in public and waving it on the end of a stick, as part of a women's rights protest that caused a social media storm.
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Three thousand camels imported from Australia have been walked out of Libya’s capital Tripoli in an overnight evacuation after the port where they arrived came under artillery fire.
The camels left Tripoli’s port shortly after midnight on Wednesday, and were herded along a highway leading west to the city of Zawiya, some 45 km (30 miles) away, where they arrived on Thursday morning, according to a local merchant.
However, he said that a local armed group had stolen 125 of the camels as they passed through the Tripoli suburb of Janzour.
20 Feb 2020; MEMO: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) strongly condemned the bombing carried on by Haftar forces on the Tripoli seaport on Tuesday, which left several casualties.
The UNSMIL added in a statement published on its website on Wednesday that the bombing would have resulted in a real catastrophe if the LNG carrier was struck.
20 Feb 2020; MEMO: Leaders and members of Arab tribes in the Syrian governorate of Hasakah have called for American troops to be expelled from the country, reiterating their support for the Syrian army and its war against terrorism.
20 Feb 2020; MEMO: Tunisia’s designated Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh on Wednesday named a new coalition government after reaching an agreement with Ennahda moderate Islamist Party, the biggest power in Parliament, ending an ongoing political crisis of four months, Reuters reports.
With this agreement, the proposed government will likely win a confidence vote in Parliament in the coming days and the country will avoid an early election.
20 Feb 2020; MEMO: The Israeli housing ministry filed a request on 9 February for the construction of 9,000 houses in occupied East Jerusalem, on land marked as Palestinian in US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century”, watchdog Peace Now reported.
20 Feb 2020; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today warned that it is only “a matter of time” until Ankara launches a military operation into Syria’s Idlib province, following the failure of talks with Russia.
MUSCAT, Feb 20 (NNN-ONA) – Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), signed with China’s Huawei, a memorandum of understanding (MoU), to provide training programmes for 1,000 Omani young people, on 5G technology.
“The Chinese company will offer a two-year training course for that number of Omanis, to be picked by the TRA,” TRA said in a press release.
The MoU was signed by TRA Chief Executive Officer, Salem Al Rawahi and Huawei Oman Regional Director, Chen Bing.
DOHA, Feb 20 (NNN-QNA) – Qatar’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, said that, Saudi Arabia suspended negotiations with Qatar over the Gulf crisis suddenly, without any clear reasons.
“We were shocked by this sudden suspension, but we look forward to talks based on transparent grounds,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said, after a meeting of the European Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee in Brussels.
Sheikh Mohammed pointed out that the crisis caused a huge crack in the Gulf region, that it would take time to rebuild confidence.
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