Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that Iran and Saudi Arabia appear to have the political will to take a new step toward repairing bilateral relations, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Making the remarks at a weekly press conference, Nasser Kanaani said the two countries seem to currently agree on the adoption of a "constructive" approach toward the resumption of the talks on the normalization of bilateral relations, of which five rounds have so far been held.

26 Dec 2022; MEMO: Saleh Raafat, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) called on Sunday for an international boycott of the new Israeli government to force it to accept international legitimacy.

Speaking to Palestine Voice, Saleh said that the agreements among the parties taking part in the new Israeli coalition government "are based on apartheid and discrimination."

26 Dec 2022; MEMO: Tunisia expects inflation to average 10.5% in 2023, up from 8.3% expected for 2022, as inflationary pressures continue to increase, economy minister Samir Saeed said on Monday.

The Tunisian government has no alternative to an agreement with the IMF, Saeed added, referring a $1.9 billion rescue package to help the country with its borrowing needs next year.

25 Dec 2022; MEMO: An Israeli ban on the entry of medical equipment into the Gaza Strip is putting the lives of hundreds of patients at risk, Palestinian authorities warned on Saturday, Anadolu reports.

Health Ministry official Ibrahim Abbas said Israeli authorities refuse to allow medical equipment, including diagnostic devices, into Gaza.

"Lack of medical service puts the lives of hundreds of patients at risk," he warned.

25 Dec 2022; MEMO: The Tunisian General Labor Union, the country's largest syndicate, has called for a halt to the current electoral process and to instead address issues the country is facing, Anadolu reports.

"If there is political maturity, we will stop this (electoral) path and talk about what will get the country out of the dilemmas in which it has fallen," the head of the syndicate, Noureddine Taboubi, told Radio Diwan FM.

25 Dec 2022; MEMO: Turkiye is in talks with Russia to use the airspace above northern Syria for a potential cross-border operation against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday, Reuters reports.

25 Dec 2022; MEMO: UN envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, has called on Libyan leaders to put an end for the transitional period and to set the situation for holding elections, Anadolu reports.

Bathily made the call in a speech on the 71st anniversary of Libya's Independence Day, marked annually on December 24.

25 Dec 2022; MEMO: Kuwait said on Sunday that it has launched an investigation into suspicions of contracting with an Israeli company by a local bank, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, Finance Minister Abdulwahab Al-Rushaid said his ministry has formed a committee to investigate allegations that the Credit Bank has contracted with an Israeli company.

He said the bank had received a notice from the Audit Bureau that it was using a protection system for a company based in Tel Aviv.

Dec 25 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian stocks climbed on Sunday in response to Friday's rise in oil prices, while most other bourses in the Gulf were in the red on global economic concerns.

Oil prices settled about $3 per barrel higher on Friday for a second straight week of gains after Moscow said it could cut crude output in response to the G7 imposing a price cap on Russian exports.

Russia may cut oil output by 5% to 7% in early 2023 as it responds to price caps, the RIA news agency cited Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Friday.

ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-8 Max airplane which killed 157 people was caused by a faulty safety feature, said Ethiopian authorities in its final report on Friday.

On March 10, 2019, the aircraft flying from Addis Ababa to Nairobi crashed a few minutes after takeoff, eventually killing all the passengers and crew on board.

A final report on the accident concluded nothing was wrong before takeoff, and the crash was due to a safety feature failure, said Dagmawit Moges, Ethiopian minister of transport and logistics.