Middle East & North Africa

ANKARA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police detained 543 people on Tuesday in an operation across 59 provinces for their suspected links to a network accused by the government of orchestrating a coup in 2016, a minister said.

The eight-month-long investigation aimed at deciphering the structure, recruitment process of new personnel and financial resources of the Gulen movement, which the Turkish government accuses of infiltrating into the state bureaucracy and attempting the coup, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said at a press conference.

17 October 2022; MEMO: An official source in Hamas told Arabi 21 that the Saudi authorities will release the representative of Hamas, Muhammad Al-Khudari, who was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but his sentence then being reduced, later, to 6 years.

In exclusive statements to Arabi 21, the source said that Al-Khudari will be deported to Amman after his release, which was supposed to be today, but it was delayed until tomorrow due to some procedures.

17 October 2022; MEMO: Kuwait's new Government was sworn in Monday before the country's Crown Prince, Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony, Sheikh Mishal said loyalty to the country and its ruler, respect of the Constitution and laws and protecting freedoms are foundation of the government's actions, according to the state news agency, KUNA.

17 October 2022; MEMO: New Iraqi President, Abdul Latif Rashid, on Monday voiced hope for a quick formation of the country's new government, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"We hope that the new government will be formed quickly to meet the demands of the Iraqis," he said in a swearing-in ceremony attended by government officials and politicians in the capital, Baghdad.

Rashid vowed to work "to protect the Constitution and solve the country's problems."

18 October 2022; MEMO: OPEC+ member states lined up on Sunday to endorse the steep cut to its output target agreed this month, after the White House, stepping up a war of words with Saudi Arabia, accused Riyadh of coercing some other nations into supporting the move, Reuters reports.

18 October 2022; MEMO: Ticket sales for the soccer World Cup are approaching the three million mark ahead of the tournament kicking off in Qatar on 20 November, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, and event organisers said on Monday, Reuters reports.

The top 10 purchasing countries of the 2.89 million tickets sold are Qatar, the United States, Saudi Arabia, England, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, France, Brazil and Germany, FIFA's World Cup Chief Operating Officer, Colin Smith, told a news conference in Doha.

18 October 2022; MEMO: A spokesman for the foreign ministry in Iran has denied reports that his country supplied drones which Russia has used in attacks on Ukrainian cities. Nasser Kanaani insisted that Iran has sent no weapons to either side in the conflict.

Kanpur: Dog's constant barking irked a man in the Juhi area here. The man appeared so tensed as he hit the stray dog on the head with hard things.

The police arrested the man. He told them that he killed the dog because he got irked by its constant barking and in a fit of anger he killed the stray dog by hitting it on its head with a brick.

The shocking incident was caught on CCTV of a shop in the area. The video shows the man, identified as Jackie.

AMMAN, Oct 16 (NNN-PETRA) – The 58th Annual International Diplomatic Bazaar, kicked off in the Jordanian capital, Amman, yesterday.

The one-day event, which was held offline, after a two-year hiatus, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is a platform for diplomatic missions to sell products of their home countries, to raise fund for children, at Mabarrat Um Al Hussein, a Jordanian charity that provides education and shelter for orphaned and underprivileged children in the kingdom.

BEIRUT, Oct 16 (NNN-NNA) – Twenty Lebanese entrepreneurs won a UN-organised competition, that granted them a cash prize for launching businesses, in disadvantaged regions of the country, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) announced.

Most winners of the “Women do Business Experience” competition are women and young people, said the event’s organiser, Beirut-based ILO regional office for Arab States, in a statement.