Middle East & North Africa

1 Apr 2019; DW: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) said they secured most mayoral positions nationwide in Sunday's municipal elections. But the AKP suffered major losses, as the main opposition's candidates eked out a win in the capital, Ankara, and pulled ahead in Istanbul, according to results released Monday.

TUNIS, April 1. /TASS/. Tunisia’s company TELNET on Monday signed a contract with the Russian operator of commercial launches of Soyuz-2 rockets GK Launch Services for putting in space Tunisia’s first satellite, the Webmanagercenter portal said.

The Tunisian group TELNET held a special ceremony at the Digital Research Center in Sfax on Monday of signing a contract for launching in 2020 its first satellite Challenge ONE with Russia’s Soyuz-2 rocket. Taking part in the ceremony were GK Launch Services CEO Alexander Serkin and TELNET CEO Mohamed Frikha.

ALGIERS, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he will resign before his term ends on April 28, said a statement from the presidency carried by the official APS news agency.

"The resignation of President Bouteflika will occur before April 28, the date of the end of his term in office," said the statement.

ANKARA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a bitter setback as his ruling party lost control of the capital Ankara in Sunday's local elections and the race tipped towards the opposition in Istanbul, the country's largest city.

The key mayoral elections across Turkey were the first since Erdogan assumed sweeping executive powers after a previous election in June 2018 and are seen as a confidence test for his 16-year rule amid a sharp economic downturn.

ANKARA; 1 Apr 2019; AA: Turkey’s main opposition candidate has been elected mayor of Turkey’s western Canakkale province in local elections on Sunday.

Ulgur Gokhan bagged 39,041 votes, while opposition Ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party got 23,531 votes, according to the unofficial results.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli watchdog said Monday that it found a network of social media bots disseminating messages in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of next week’s elections.

Noam Rotem and Yuval Adam, two researchers operating the Big Bots Project, said in a report that they uncovered hundreds of fake accounts spreading messages in support of Netanyahu’s Likud party and smearing his opponents.

ALGIERS, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced a new caretaker government amid weeks of mass protests demanding his resignation, the country's national television said on Sunday night.

Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, who took office on March 11, will head the new administration, the state TV reported.

ANKARA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The partial results showed Turkey's ruling party, which was leading in Sunday's local elections with the slightest margin in Istanbul race, was setting to lose capital Ankara.

The People's Alliance, between ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), was leading with 51.7 percent of the votes in local elections on Sunday after 91 percent of ballots were counted, state broadcaster TRT said.

TUNIS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The 30th edition of Arab League (AL) Summit ended on Sunday evening, calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state and reiterating its strong support for two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"It is unacceptable to continue the current situation that has turned the Arab world into a region of tensions and conflicts which threaten the security, stability and development of our countries," said Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui, outlining the final statement of the summit.

CAIRO, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China's Tianjin Light Industry Vocational Technical College, Tianjin Transportation Vocational College and Egypt's Ain Shams University on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the Egypt Luban Workshop in Cairo, Egypt.

Luban workshop is the first project of international cooperation on vocational training supported by China's Tianjin Municipality, which aims at improving academic education of top technical talents and serving the local economy and society via vocational training.