Middle East & North Africa

9 Sep 2019; MEMO: Israel’s cabinet yesterday approved legislation that allows filming inside polling stations, Ynet News reported, noting that the draft bill will go to the Knesset prior to 17 September election date.

According to the Israeli news website, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents said that the move was effectively meant to intimidate Arab voters.

9 Sep 2019; MEMO: Illiteracy rates among Palestinians aged 15 years and above fell from 13.9 per cent in 1997 to 2.8 per cent in 2018, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said.

In a report issued yesterday to mark International Literacy Day, the PCBS said illiteracy among men fell from 7.8 per cent in 1997 to 1.3 per cent in 2018, while for females it fell from 20.3 per cent to 4.3 per cent.

9 Sep 2019; MEMO: After the removal of what was called a “major obstacle”, a deal was reached last week to export gas from Israel to Egypt, Arabi21.com has reported.

9 Sep 2019; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed Israeli squatters to take over a Palestinian house about a hundred metres from the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied Hebron, Arab48 reported yesterday.

During his visit to the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday, Netanyahu claimed that the house is Israeli property, with the Israeli Civil Administration claiming an Israeli settlement group lawfully bought the property in 2015.

DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar has shortlisted international oil firms for a stake in its expanded North Field megaproject, Qatar Petroleum’s chief executive told Reuters, but may still choose to go it alone unless majors offer it significant value.

The expansion of tiny but gas-rich Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, already the world’s largest, is one of the energy sector’s most lucrative projects, and the world’s top oil and gas majors have been racing to secure a stake.

KHARTOUM, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Ministers of Sudan's transitional cabinet on Sunday were sworn in before the Chairman of the Sovereign Council Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, according to Xinhua reporter in the capital Khartoum.

Altogether 18 ministers took the constitutional oath before Al-Burhan in the presence of the Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, while two ministers are expected to be appointed later for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries.

TEHRAN, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iranian officials said Sunday that Iran is entitled to suspend parts of its commitments to the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal when its interests are not honored by the parties of the accord, official IRNA news agency reported.

The steps taken by Iran to reduce its commitments under the deal are "legitimate" and are allowed under the agreement, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday.

BEIRUT (AP) — Unknown warplanes targeted overnight an arms depot and posts of Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border, killing at least 18 fighters, Syrian opposition activists said Monday.

The strikes come amid rising tensions in the Middle East and the crisis between Iran and the U.S. in the wake of the collapsing nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

An official with an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq blamed Israel for the airstrikes that hit in the eastern Syrian town of Boukamal. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Avigdor Lieberman entered Israeli politics as a loyal protégé of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, the maverick politician could be the one to topple his former mentor.

Lieberman, a burly, tough-talking immigrant from the former Soviet Union, forced Israel’s unprecedented second election of the year and is poised to be the kingmaker again.

Polls suggest Netanyahu won’t be able to form a coalition government without Lieberman’s support.

Lieberman has played hard to get.

DAMASCUS, Sept 9 (NNN-SANA) – The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the joint U.S.-Turkish patrols in northeastern Syria, saying, such a move is a flagrant violation to international law.

Such a move is condemned, as it constitutes a blatant violation to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, said the ministry in its statement.

The joint patrols are also regarded as an act of aggression, that aims to prolong the Syrian civil war, following the progress made by the Syrian army, in the battles against the rebels, said the statement.