Middle East & North Africa

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea filed by Bilkis Bano seeking a review of its May 13 verdict by which it had said the state of Gujarat was the "appropriate government" competent to examine the application for the pre-mature release filed by a convict in the gang-rape and murder case.

Bano's separate petition challenging the remission of the sentences of the 11 convicts by the state government is pending before the Supreme Court. She was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea challenging the election of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in 2019 from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala.

A bench of justices A S Bopanna and Dipankar Datta rejected the petition filed by Saritha S Nair, who had moved the apex court against an October 31, 2019 decision of the Kerala High Court by which her election petitions challenging the Lok Sabha polls in Wayanad and Ernakulam also were dismissed.

16 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz has criticised the proposed changes to the security system being introduced by the far-right government headed by Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We need a system that has unified command and knows how to achieve balances. Once you disturb the balances, you strike the system. The end result will be detrimental to the security system," Gantz said.

16 Dec 2022; MEMO: Saudi authorities have arrested 421 persons who are accused of trying to smuggle large quantities of drugs in four regions of the kingdom.

17 Dec 2022; MEMO: Ninety per cent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon need humanitarian assistance to survive during the worst economic crisis the country has witnessed in decades, according to announcements made by international organisations on Friday.

16 Dec 2022; MEMO: An Irish UN peacekeeper was killed and several others were wounded after unidentified attackers opened fire on a convoy in southern Lebanon, Irish and Lebanese military officials said yesterday according to Reuters.

The news wire said a pair of armoured vehicles carrying eight Irish UNIFIL peacekeeping troops was fired at as they drove north toward Beirut on Tuesday night from the town of Al-Aqbiya.

16 Dec 2022; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied has taken advantage of the state resources to promote the next parliament, which he will control, rights group I Watch warned yesterday.

In a statement I Watch said Saied "made nine field visits during the electoral campaign, the last of which was a visit to the neighbourhoods of the District of Mnihla on December 11."

17 Dec 2022; MEMO: The European Parliament has decided to boycott the parliamentary elections on Saturday in Tunisia without stating the reasons behind the decision.

The European Parliament announced in a statement on Friday that it: "Will not send observers to Tunisia to monitor the parliamentary elections that will take place tomorrow, Saturday."

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Coming from Brazil for the World Cup in Qatar, Daniela Crawford had been worried about conservative dress codes. But like many women attending the tournament, she said she found no problems.

“In Brazil people are used to it, but we came here and decided to show how we are,” said Crawford — wearing shorts — as she took pictures with a Brazilian flag with her husband and two sons outside Doha’s Education City Stadium before the Brazil-Croatia quarterfinal match last week.

15 Dec 2022; MEMO: Israel has prevented 200 Palestinian Christians in Gaza from taking part in Christmas festivities in the occupied cities of Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Greek Orthodox Church in the besieged enclave had sent a list of 800 names to the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee in Gaza requesting they be given permission to go to the West Bank to celebrate Christmas, Al-Monitor reported.