Middle East & North Africa

1 Oct 2019; MEMO: UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Bin Zayed wished a happy New Year to the followers of the Jewish faith tweeting “Shana Tovah”, in what is seen as another step towards normalising ties with Israel at an official level.

Literally meaning the “head of the year”, the two-day Rosh Hashanah celebration began at sundown on Sunday and will come to an end at nightfall today.

ANKARA, Oct 1 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey laid out a new three-year programme to recover its economy, with ambitious targets, including a surge in growth and a slowdown in inflation.

During a presentation in the capital, Ankara, Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister, Berat Albayrak, said, consumer price growth forecast has been revised to an annual 12 percent, at the end of this year, from 15 percent in Aug. Last year’s government predictions were 15.9 percent for 2019.

BEIRUT, Oct 1 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, said that, Syrian refugees pose a burden of three billion U.S. dollars yearly, on the Lebanese economy, a statement by Lebanon’s presidency reported.

“This figure has a very negative impact on our small country, whereby Lebanon’s debt increased by 27 billion dollars, following the Syrian crisis,” Aoun said, during his meeting at Baabda Palace, with a delegation from the American Task Force for Lebanon.

TEHRAN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Monday announced that it welcomes dialogue with Saudi Arabia to settle mutual issues and talks with regional states to set up a coalition for the security of the region.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Monday that "there has always been a chance to solve these problems (with Saudi Arabia) through dialogue."

Iran welcomes any mediatory attempt to calm tensions with Saudi Arabia, Mousavi said, expressing hope that the Saudi side is also "ready" for alleviating tensions.

DEIR AL-ZOUR, Syria, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Under the victory banner, the Bukamal-Qaim border crossing between Syria and Iraq was reopened on Monday, the first time since its closure in 2014 when Islamic State (IS) militants captured areas on both sides of the border.

Xinhua reporters at the site witnessed the reopening of that key border crossing, which connects the town of Al-Bukamal in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour to the city of Husaybah in the Al-Qaim District of Iraq's Anbar governorate.

30 Sep 2019; MEMO: An Israeli radio station has said that the country is likely to have a third General Election soon after the second round of coalition talks between the Likud and Blue and White parties failed to reach agreement yesterday. Blaming each other for the failure of the talks, the parties nevertheless agreed to meet again for a “last ditch” effort on Wednesday, the same day that Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption hearing begins.

30 Sep 2019; MEMO: The Houthis have today announced that they will release 350 prisoners, including three Saudis, under the supervision of the United Nations as part of a peace initiative.

30 Sep 2019; MEMO: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has warned of a “total collapse” of the global economy due to ongoing tension with Iran.

30 Sep 2019; MEMO: Leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said that forces aligned to the party would enter Israel.

“The enemy is on the defensive, we have always been on the defensive, now we are in attack mode,” he said.

Leader of the movement, which is part of Lebanon’s coalition government, added: “We are threatening the enemy, not the other way around.”

30 Sep 2019; MEMO: Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, has ordered his country’s energy sector to raise its alert levels against cyber and military attacks that could target the oil industry.

Zanganeh’s remarks came in a statement yesterday on the occasion of the National Day of Fire Safety.