Middle East & North Africa

6 Oct 2019; MEMO: The Turkish Coast Guard arrested 38,467 irregular migrants and detained 56 human smugglers in the country’s waters in 2019.

In 2019, a total of 1,115 cases of irregular migration took place in Turkey’s waters, according to information obtained by an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

The number of irregular migrants recorded in the first 9 months of 2019 increased more than two-fold compared to the same period last year.

6 Oct 2019; MEMO: France and Turkey can realize €20 billion (nearly $22 billion) trade volume target, said an economy counsellor from the French Embassy in Ankara, Turkey’s capital.

France wants to enhance cooperation with Turkey in strategic areas, such as smart cities, energy, sustainability, transportation, innovation, environment management, and agriculture, Daniel Gallissaires told Anadolu Agency.

6 Oct 2019; MEMO: Thousands of fans flocked to the Khalifa International Stadium to watch local hero Barshim take gold last night in Doha, Qatar.

6 Oct 2019; MEMO: A medical convoy consisting of six ambulances, ten vehicles for transferring disabled people and 50 electrical wheelchairs, entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing on Friday.

6 Oct 2019; MEMO: Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment in Saudi Arabia, Turki Al-Sheikh, hinted on Friday that he would prosecute Egyptian defector, Mohamed Ali, Anadolu News Agency reported on Friday.

“I heard that there is a contractor who wanted to play the role of a hero, but could not pull it off,” Al-Sheikh announced on Facebook on Thursday, referring to Ali.

6 Oct 2019; MEMO: The Israeli prime minister and Likud chairman, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced on Friday the abdication of snap primaries in the Likud party.

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisians began voting on Sunday for a parliament that must address chronic economic problems at a moment when political newcomers are mounting a challenge to the established parties.

Voters queued outside polling stations in the capital Tunis, only eight years after rising up to throw off autocratic rule and introduce democracy in a revolution that inspired the “Arab Spring”.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will not succumb to U.S. pressure and will use every possible way to export its oil, Iranian Oil Ministry’s website SHANA quoted Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying on Sunday.

Iran’s crude oil exports were reduced by more than 80% when the United States re-imposed sanctions on the country last November after President Donald Trump pulled out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

“We will use every possible way to export our oil and we will not succumb to America’s pressure because exporting oil is Iran’s legitimate right,” Zanganeh said.

Baghdad, Oct 5 (AFP/PTI) The death toll from mass protests in Baghdad and cities across southern Iraq rose to 93 on Saturday as the unrest entered its fifth day, parliament's human rights commission said.

Nearly 4,000 people have also been injured since the protests against chronic unemployment, poor public services and widespread corruption erupted in the capital on Tuesday, the commission said.

It was not immediately clear whether the latest deaths were from Friday's huge protests or fresh demonstrations on Saturday.

TRIPOLI, Oct 6 (NNN-Xinhua) — Libya’s east-based army announced early Sunday that it has launched airstrikes on the forces of its rival UN-backed government in the city of Sirte, some 450 km east of the capital Tripoli.

“The Air Force of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces have launched successive airstrikes on four military targets in Sirte, which are weapons and ammunition stores used by the terrorist militias (referring to UN-backed government’s forces),” Ahmad al-Mismari, the army’s spokesperson, said in a statement.