Middle East & North Africa

ANKARA, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Turkey repatriated five foreign terrorists to Germany on Tuesday, Turkish Interior Ministry said in a statement.

"Extradition of foreign fighters to their countries continues," said the statement carried by the official Anadolu Agency.

The five German nationals were sent back to their country of origin as part of the continued efforts to send back foreign fighters detained in Turkey, the ministry added.

03 Dec 2019; MEMO: Israel’s Blue and White party has stopped its campaign to gather sufficient signatures from Knesset members to enable its leader, Benny Gantz, to form a government, Israel Radio reported.

The station said the party has left the scene open for Likud, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a coalition government, however the latter’s chances are also slim.

03 Dec 2019; MEMO: More than 150 students staged a walkout during a talk by former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer’s talk at the American University in Cairo yesterday.

Chanting slogans against the Israeli occupation and holding banners in support of the Palestinian cause, the students withdrew from what they said was a debate supported by the Israeli occupation.

03 Dec 2019; MEMO: The internationally recognised Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) has condemned air strikes launched by forces loyal to retired Major General Khalifa Haftar on the capital Tripoli saying they are “tantamount to war crimes”.

“These criminal and terrorist acts will not pass without a severe response on the battlefields,” the GNA said in a statement.

03 Dec 2019; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a visit to London during the two-day NATO summit which starts today, Israeli media reported yesterday.

Quds Press reported Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth saying that the trip was cancelled after Netanyahu was informed that London would have not be able to afford private security for him.

3 December 2019; AFP: Iraq's rival parties were negotiating the contours of a new government on Monday, after the previous cabinet was brought down by a two-month protest movement insisting on even more deep-rooted change.

After just over a year in power, premier Adel Abdel Mahdi formally resigned Sunday after a dramatic intervention by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

TEHRAN, Dec 3 (NNN-IRNA) – At least 56 people have died from flu in Iran, over the past two months, Iranian Deputy Health Minister, Alireza Reisi, was quoted as saying.

Reisi said that, over the past week, 273 people were admitted to hospitals, because of exposure to the disease, of which 19 patients died.

The Iranian official said that, nearly all the patients who lost their lives were old people or people with chronic diseases.

He urged people to observe sanitary directions and protective measures, with the arrival of the cold season.

GAZA, Palestine, Dec 3 (NNN-WAFA) – Leaders of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), headed for Cairo, for talks with senior Egyptian security officials, over a possible truce with Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas chief, left through the Rafah Border Crossing, between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, the sources said.

The talks will focus on Egyptian efforts, to reinforce a truce between Israel and the Palestinian factions.

Internal Palestinian issues will also be discussed during the talks, they added.

DAMASCUS, Dec 3 (NNN-SANA) – An official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said, the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is an occasion on which we should remember all the wars waged by the United States, under the pretext of WMD’s, devastating states and peoples and civilisations including Iraq, only to admit later that its information was wrong and that its wars were based on lies.

JERUSALEM, Dec 3 (NNN-MA’AN) — An indictment, charging Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with corruption, was officially submitted on Monday.

Israeli Attorney General, Avihai Mendelblit, publicly released the indictment, allowing a period of 30 days, during which the long-time leader may request parliament to grant him immunity from standing trial.

The 77-page indictment, charges Netanyahu with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, in three separate corruption scandals.