Middle East & North Africa

12 October 2022; MEMO: The Progressive Socialist Party in Lebanon headed by Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, said Wednesday that reaching an agreement to resolve the maritime border dispute with Israel "does not, in any way, constitute an entry into the path of normalisation with the enemy".

The Progressive Socialist Party urged, in a statement, all political forces in Lebanon and the concerned authorities to embark on serious and persistent work to invest in this achievement "away from brokering" and "side deal".

TEHRAN, Oct 12 (NNN-XINHUA) – Syria has denounced the ongoing U.S. plunder of oil from its territory, as an “act of piracy and an attempt to return to the colonial era,” Iranian state-run Press TV, reported.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, tweeted Saturday that, the U.S. smuggling of oil and transferring them to neighbouring Iraq, were a violation of international law and the UN Charter, calling the United Nations Security Council to condemn such acts, Press TV cited Syria’s official news agency SANA, as saying.

BAGHDAD, Oct 12 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi parliament decided to hold a session tomorrow, dedicated to electing the next president of the country.

Yesterday, Iraqi parliament Speaker, Mohammed al-Halbousi, announced the decision in a press release, after a regular parliament session, noting that, the agenda for tomorrow’s session would only include the election of the Iraqi president.

According to the power-sharing system in Iraq, after 2003, the presidency should be reserved for the Kurds, the speaker’s post for the Sunnis, and the prime minister’s post for the Shiites.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran suffered a “major disruption” in internet service Wednesday amid calls for renewed protests weeks after the death of a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the country’s morality police, an advocacy group said.

The demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini have become one of the greatest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the country’s 2009 Green Movement protests. Demonstrators have included oil workers, high school students and women marching without their mandatory headscarf, or hijab.

11 October 2022; MEMO: The Israeli High Court of Justice on Sunday ordered opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu to repay $270,000 he received illegally from his late cousin Nathan Milikowsky.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the High Court of Justice ruled that the money, intended for Netanyahu and his wife's legal defence, was given to the former prime minister because he was a public official. As a result, the court said, it was against Israel's gift laws.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Israel has been ranked as the fifth worst country in the world to work in, according to a report by the international insurance firm, William Russell.

The firm compiled a list of countries with the least favourable employment conditions, ranking each based on a score from 0 to 10.

The report explained that the average person in Israel works extremely high working hours, resulting in almost 36.6 hours per week.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Israel is "deeply concerned" by Russia's use of Iranian-made Shahed 136 suicide drones in its latest large scale missile attack on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, which resulted in 19 deaths and extensive destruction, the Times of Israel reported.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Saudi's relations with the US are "strategic",  Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said, stressing that the OPEC+ decision to cut production is a "purely economic" issue.

11 October 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has announced that female pilgrims performing Hajj or Umrah no longer require a mahram, or closely-related male guardian to accompany them.

At a press conference at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo yesterday, the Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Dr Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, said that women from any part of the world could visit the Two Holy Mosques without a mahram.

11 October 2022; MEMO: Flight bookings to Qatar are booming for the soccer World Cup being held in November and December, with particularly strong demand from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as fans work round a shortage of accommodation in Doha, a study showed on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Flight bookings to Qatar from the UAE and nine other countries have risen ten-fold compared with before the pandemic, travel analysis group, ForwardKeys, said.