Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked to project business as usual Sunday as he returned to work following his indictment on corruption charges, but a wall of silence from his usually loyal Cabinet ministers could mean tough times ahead for the embattled Israeli leader.

Netanyahu is determined to fight the charges from the prime minister’s office in what promises to be a lengthy court battle. But long before the proceedings begin, it could be his own Likud party that decides his political future as the country appears to be heading toward new elections.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A watchdog group asked Israel’s top court on Sunday to order Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step aside after his indictment on corruption charges, adding to pressure he is facing from within his ruling party.

Netanyahu, a four-term conservative leader, has denied the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust and said he will stay in office and defend himself.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco’s weighting in Saudi Arabia’s main stock index once the oil giant has listed shares is not expected to breach the maximum limit set by the Gulf kingdom’s Tadawul exchange, a senior executive said on Sunday.

“There is a ceiling for the maximum weight any listed company on the Saudi index can reach, it will be around 15%. It is unlikely that Aramco’s weight will reach the maximum level,” Argaam financial website quoted Tadawul chief executive, Khalid al-Hussan, as saying.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco met investors in Dubai on Sunday to market its initial public offering (IPO), after trying to secure demand from Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund for the deal, worth up to $25.6 billion, which relies heavily on local and regional buyers.

Top executives of the Saudi state-owned oil giant, including Aramco’s Chief Executive Amin Nasser, met officials of Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund weeks ago, a source familiar with the matter said, confirming an earlier report on Sunday in the Kuwaiti newspaper Alrai.

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Security forces opened fire on protesters in Baghdad and several cities in southern Iraq on Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens of others, police and medical sources said, the latest violence in weeks of unrest.

Anti-government protests erupted in early October and have swollen into the largest demonstrations since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. A Reuters tally of the dead as given by security and medical sources shows at least 339 people have been killed.

ISTANBUL, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish government's optimism for an economic recovery amid high inflation and economic contraction since the end of last year lacks solid foundation, analysts said, warning that the year 2020 could prove quite challenging as well.

What the latest indications only show is that the shrinkage in economy has stopped, but a genuine recovery is a long way off, Gokhan Capoglu, an economist, told Xinhua.

At the end of last month, the Turkish Central Bank lowered its inflation projection for 2019 to 12 percent, down from 13.9 percent.

ANKARA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkey would seek alternatives if it could not acquire U.S. F-35 fighter jets, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Saturday.

"All should be aware that Turkey will have to look for alternatives if F-35s cannot be acquired for any reason," Akar said during an interview with Al Jazeera.

The Russia-made S-400 missile defense systems Turkey recently procured would not be integrated into the NATO systems within the Turkish defense system and would instead be part of a "stand-alone system," the minister stated.

RAMALLAH, Palestine, Nov 24 (NNN-WAFA) – Israeli forces closed down the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank’s southern city of Hebron to Palestinians, as thousands of Israeli settlers flock into the city, to mark a Jewish holiday.

Israeli forces also shut a main road leading to Hebron’s central market, to allow Jewish settlers to march towards a historical site. Israeli forces forced Palestinian shop owners along the road, to close down and banned Palestinians from moving around the old city, which is, in fact, under Palestinian control.

ANKARA, Nov 24 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey would seek alternatives, if it could not acquire the U.S. F-35 fighter jets, Turkish Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, said.

“All should be aware that Turkey will have to look for alternatives, if the F-35’s cannot be acquired for any reason,” Akar said, during an interview.

The Russia-made S-400 missile defence systems, Turkey recently procured, would not be integrated into the NATO systems, within the Turkish defence system, and would instead be part of a “stand-alone system,” the minister stated.

TEHRAN, Nov 24 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry, on Saturday, condemned the U.S. fresh move, to sanction the Iranian minister of information and communications technology (ICT).

U.S. Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, announced sanctions on the Iranian Minister, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, over what he called, Jahromi’s alleged role in the “wide-scale Internet censorship” in Iran, following recent wave of violence pertaining to the gas price hike in the country.