Middle East & North Africa

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants Syrian government forces to move out of areas near the Turkish border so he can resettle up to 2 million refugees there, his spokesman told The Associated Press on Saturday. The request will top Erdogan’s talks next week with Syria’s ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Arrangements along the Syrian-Turkish border were thrown into disarray after the U.S. pulled its troops out of the area, opening the door to Turkey’s invasion aiming to drive out Kurdish-led fighters it considers terrorists.

19 Oct 2019; MEMO: The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced the entry into force of the Turkish-US agreement on northern Syria, which was signed on Thursday in Ankara, after long negotiations between the delegations of both countries.

19 Oct 2019; MEMO: Lebanese prime minister, Saad Al-Hariri, cancelled the cabinet meeting which planned to take place on Friday, amidst calls for him to resign, Lebanese mass media reported.

Hariri declared a 72-hour ultimatum for his partners in government, to announce their support for reformations and anti-corruption plans, which were already agreed upon.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that the group was not demanding the government’s resignation amid widespread national protests.

Nasrallah said in a televised speech that he supported the government, but called for a new agenda and “new spirit,” adding that ongoing protests showed the way forward was not new taxes.

Any tax imposed on the poor would push him to call supporters to go take to the streets, Nasrallah added.

NICOSIA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Officers serving with the United Nations police contingent in Cyprus have been recognized for their dedicated service at a special ceremony on Friday.

At a presentation in Nicosia, 21 members of the force received their UN Medal, which is awarded by the United Nations Secretary-General "In the Service of Peace."

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s prime minister gave his partners in government a 72-hour ultimatum to come up with “convincing” solutions for a rapidly worsening economic crisis, as nationwide protests against the country’s entire ruling political class escalated.

BARDARASH, Iraq (AP) — For months, every time Turkey threatened to invade northern Syria, Salwa Hanna told her husband they should take their children and flee from the border town of Kobani. And every time, he told her not to worry, because the Americans were there.

DOHA, Oct 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Qatar announced plans to scrap key aspects of its controversial “kafala” labour rules, including the requirement for some workers to obtain employers’ permission to change jobs and exit permits to leave the country.

Qatar has made a series of reforms to its employment regulations since being selected to host the 2022 World Cup, which set motion a vast construction programme employing foreign workers.

Rights groups have long said the system fuels abuses.

18 Oct 2019; MEMO: Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali Alhakim said yesterday that his country is ready to receive members of Daesh and their families to be prosecuted in Iraq.

Alhakim indicated during a joint press conference with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in Baghdad: “We discussed with the French side the fate of terrorist elements detained inside Syria in light of Turkish military operations.”

18 Oct 2019; MEMO: The Ministry of Social Development in the Gaza Strip said yesterday that the rates of poverty and unemployment in the Gaza Strip reached nearly 75 per cent in 2019.