Middle East & North Africa

4 Sep 2019; MEMO: Members of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) demanded on Monday the expulsion of former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, news agencies reported on Tuesday. According to Reuters, an official said that the party’s central executive committee has called Davutoglu, along with Ayhan Sefer Ustun, Selcuk Ozdag and Abdullah Basci, to be expelled from the party.

4 Sep 2019; MEMO: Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz has headed to Switzerland in a bid to end the threat of arrest warrants faced by Israeli war crimes suspects visiting the country, reported Ynet.

4 Sep 2019; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled his trip to India, which was slated to take place next week ahead of Israel’s upcoming general election on 17 September.

Netanyahu had been due to visit his “close friend” and political ally, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the Indian capital New Delhi for a one-day trip on Monday. The pair were slated to discuss bilateral ties including trade and defence industry deals.

4 Sep 2019; MEMO: Israel’s latest public opinion poll yesterday showed that the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, was continuing to gain nine seats and “remain the biggest obstacle to forming a right-wing government two weeks before elections.”

The study also said that the supporter of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had fallen from 43 per cent two weeks ago to 39 per cent.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani gave European powers another two months to save a 2015 nuclear deal on Wednesday, but warned that Tehran was still preparing for further significant breaches of the agreement if diplomatic efforts failed.

His statement came as Iranian officials appeared to give a guarded welcome to a French proposal to save the atomic pact by offering Iran about $15 billion in credit lines until the end of the year if Tehran comes fully back into compliance.

DAMASCUS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- A cautious calm prevails Syria's northwestern province of Idlib as a cease-fire entered into force last Saturday, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper reported Wednesday.

The cease-fire, which was unilaterally announced by the Syrian army, was announced in the de-escalation zone, which includes Idlib as well as nearby countryside areas of Hama, Latakia and Aleppo provinces in northern Syria.

KHARTOUM, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Tuesday reiterated the importance of removing Sudan from the U.S. list of countries "sponsoring terrorism."

"Sudan must be removed from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and we expect progress in this regard soon," said Hamdok when meeting with the visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

"The economic challenge is big, but it can be tackled," said Hamdok, noting that "we need to address the deterioration in the exchange price, stop inflation and restore confidence in the banking sector."

TEHRAN, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran will take the third step to reduce its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Despite progress in the negotiations between Iran and the European parties to the nuclear dear, "final agreement has not been reached so far," Rouhani was quoted as saying by the state IRIB TV.

Therefore, "Iran will take the third step to reduce its commitments to the nuclear deal, and will announce the soon," said Rouhani.

AMMAN, Sept 4 (NNN-PETRA) – Jordan on Tuesday, called for intensified efforts to resolve the crisis in Yemen through a political solution.

At a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, in Amman, Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ayman Safadi, underlined the need for implementing the Stockholm Agreement and other relevant understandings, to achieve the desired political solution that restores stability and security in Yemen and ends the suffering of its people.

KUWAIT, Sept 4 (NNN-KUNA) – Kuwaiti and U.S. leaders will discuss the Gulf tensions and bilateral ties, during a summit next week, U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait, Lawrence Silverman said.

Kuwaiti Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who arrived in the U.S. on Monday, is scheduled to hold a summit on Sept 12, with U.S. President, Donald Trump, at the White House.