Middle East & North Africa

23 Jan 2019; MEMO: Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) yesterday suspended air traffic at the Mitiga airport in the capital Tripoli after it was struck by missiles.

23 Jan 2019; MEMO: Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday called on Russia to fulfil its pledges to a ceasefire in Syria’s north-western city of Idlib.

Speaking on the sidelines of the fiftieth annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Cavusoglu warned that the situation in Idlib was “dangerous”, noting that the Syrian regime was “randomly targeting civilians”.

23 Jan 2019; MEMO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi yesterday called on Saudi Arabia to work together with Iran to resolve their problems.

Vaezi told reporters that relations between the two states “should not become like the relationship between Tehran and the United States … Tehran and Riyadh should work together to resolve their problems.”

Senior Iranian officials have recently conveyed similar messages on restoring relations with rival Saudi Arabia.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said during a visit to Israel on Thursday that he had given assurances to the mother of Naama Issachar, a U.S.-Israeli woman jailed in Russia on drug charges, that “everything will be okay” for her daughter.

Israel has called on Russia to release Issachar who was sentenced by a Russian court to seven and a half years in jail on drug offences in October.

The New Jersey-born woman was arrested in April last year after police found nine grams of cannabis in her bags during a stopover at a Moscow airport.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The successor to the Iranian commander killed in a U.S. drone strike would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path by killing Americans, the U.S. special representative for Iran said, according to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

BEIRUT, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun urged the new cabinet to start dealing with economic and financial crises, the Presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The cabinet has been formed amid very tough economic circumstances which require extra efforts to restore the confidence of the Lebanese and the international community," Aoun said during the first meeting of the cabinet.

"We have to reassure the Lebanese about their future," he said. "The coming days will witness several cabinet meetings to achieve our goals."

TUNIS, Jan 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — Tunisia and India on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to set up an information and communications technology (ICT) innovation center.

The MoU was signed by acting Tunisian Foreign Minister Sabri Bachtobji and visiting Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The two officials discussed various aspects of Tunisian-Indian cooperation as well as a host of regional and international issues of common interest, according to a ministry statement.

TUNIS, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia and India on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to set up an information and communications technology (ICT) innovation center.

The MoU was signed by acting Tunisian Foreign Minister Sabri Bachtobji and visiting Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The two officials discussed various aspects of Tunisian-Indian cooperation as well as a host of regional and international issues of common interest, according to a ministry statement.

TEHRAN, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Wednesday ruled out handing over the black boxes of the crashed Ukrainian plane to other countries for decoding, Press TV reported.

"The so-called black boxes should remain with an Iranian team that is investigating the incident," said Iranian Minister of Transportation Mohammad Eslami.

The data recorders have to be solely analyzed by the accident investigation team at Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, Eslami added.

AMMAN, Jan 23 (NNN-KUNA) – Kuwaiti investor, Sheikh Meshal Al Sabah, announced a project to build a major oil refinery in the south of Jordan.

He made the announcement in Amman, saying, the production at the petroleum refinery in Maan Governorate, is set to begin in the second half of 2024.

The new investment, which obtained initial approval from Jordan’s Ministry of Energy on Tuesday, is divided into two sub-projects, he added.

It is a joint project by Jordanian, Kuwaiti and U.S. investors, according to Sabah news.