Middle East & North Africa

6 May 2019; MEMO: Lebanese central bank employees went on strike on Monday over state budget proposals that would cut their benefits but said they may be ready to take a decision to “relieve” pressures caused by the move, reports Reuters.

The strike prompted the Beirut Stock Exchange to suspend trading until further notice because the clearance and settlement process for transactions could not be done on time, it said in a statement.

7 May 2019; MEMO: Deputy Housing Minister in Gaza Naji Sarhan said that 130 residential apartments were completely destroyed and 700 others were partially destroyed in the Israeli strike in Gaza.

In a statement, a copy of which sent to MEMO, Sarhan said that the emergency staff of the ministry started their evaluation of the targeted buildings since the start of the Israeli offensive.

6 May 2019; MEMO: Turkey’s national flag carrier has extended its free city tours range by offering evening Bosphorus tours to transit passengers in Istanbul, says Anadolu Agency.

Within the scope of the “Touristanbul” project, Turkish Airlines enables transit passengers who stay from six to 24 hours in Istanbul Airport to see the historical and natural beauties of the city, Abdullah Yormaz, tour marketing manager of Turkish Airlines, told reporters Monday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — For 12 years, Israel has maintained a blockade over the Gaza Strip, seeking to weaken the territory’s militant Hamas rulers. And for 12 years, Hamas has remained firmly in power, developing a thriving homegrown weapons industry along the way.

This weekend’s violence, the worst in a string of flare-ups since a 2014 war, provided the latest illustration of the limitations of the blockade and fueled calls Monday in Israel for a rethinking of the longstanding policy, which many see as ineffective and even counterproductive.

ANKARA; 6 May 2019; AA: The Indian Embassy in Ankara on Sunday celebrated the Holi festival of colors, marking the traditional beginning of spring.

"The festival of colors, Holi as we call it in India, is actually the advent of spring, and for us, it’s also the Indian new year," Sanjay Bhattacharyya, India’s ambassador to Turkey, told Anadolu Agency.

6 May 2019; AFP: Talks between the Taliban and the US have become bogged down over the key issue of when foreign forces might leave Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman told AFP on Sunday.

The Taliban and US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad have met repeatedly in the Qatari capital Doha in recent months in a bid to finally end Afghanistan's gruelling war.

DAMASCUS, May 6. /TASS/: A Russian plane has delivered 8 tonnes of humanitarian aid from Mongolia to the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria, Sergei Smolinsky, representative of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the warring parties, told reporters.

He said that the distribution of the cargo among the most needy groups of Syrian population has already begun.

"This assistance is very much needed by the Syrian people today," said Smolinsky.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army on Monday lifted protective restrictions on residents in southern Israel, while the Hamas militant group’s radio station in the Gaza Strip reported a cease-fire, signaling a deal had been reached to end the bloodiest fighting between the two sides since a 2014 war.

There was no official cease-fire announcement from either side, but the intense fighting over the past two days appeared to come to a sudden halt in the early morning hours.

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 5 (Xinhua): Two Palestinians were killed in Israeli overnight attacks in the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian military factions for the third day in a row, medic sources said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of Gaza Health Ministry, said in a press statement that Mahmoud Issa, 29, and Fawzi Bawadi, 24, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 10.

TUNIS, May 5 (Xinhua): Tunisian security forces killed three terrorists late Saturday night in the Tunisian central province of Sidi Bouzid, a local radio station reported Sunday.

"It was a preventive operation conducted by the National Guard and the anti-terrorism units which managed to eliminate three terrorists described as dangerous and seized weapons and ammunition," a security source told Mosaique FM.

Special forces set a trap in the region of Sidi Ali Ben Aoun for the terrorists who had to descend from the mountain to refuel.