Middle East & North Africa

CAIRO, Sept 27 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, and Bulgarian President, Rumen Radev, discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

In a phone conversation, the two leaders also discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations, particularly in the economic, investment, and trade sectors, it read.

Sisi confirmed Egypt’s willingness to promote bilateral cooperation at all levels.

RAMALLAH, Sept 27 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ishtaye, yesterday urged his Israeli counterpart, Yair Lapid, to prove his support for the two-state solution, by stopping settlement building and ending the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.

“Whoever claims to believe in the two-state solution must stop settlements, lift the siege on Gaza, open Jerusalem and stop the settlers’ repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, which have reached their climax today,” Ishtaye said, during the weekly cabinet meeting, according to an official statement.

DUBAI, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Iranian riot police and security forces clashed with demonstrators in dozens of cities on Tuesday, state media and social media said, amid continuing protests over the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Amini, 22, from the northwestern Kurdish city of Saqez, was arrested on Sept. 13 in Tehran for "unsuitable attire" by the morality police who enforce the Islamic Republic's strict dress code.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Iranian military commander said a homegrown over-the-horizon (OTH) radar with a range of 3,000 km will soon become operational in the country, semi-official Mehr news agency reported Tuesday.

Dubbed Sepehr (Sky), the radar is capable of monitoring all kinds of commercial, fighter and command and control military aircraft as well as airplanes fitted with radio relay stations and unmanned aerial vehicles, Deputy Commander of the Iranian Army's Air Defense Force Alireza Elhami was quoted as saying.

BOURJ HAMMOUD, Lebanon (AP) — Jihad Michlawi, 31, has struggled to makes ends meet as a chef in crisis-hit Beirut. The Palestinian had never considered taking a perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe until friends who successfully did so convinced him.

Now, he’s one of dozens of survivors from a capsized migrant boat that left Tripoli, Lebanon last week heading toward Italy carrying some 150 Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians.

27 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, has condemned the extremist Jews' attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque, warning that any change to the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque is equivalent to a threat to the status quo in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Patriarch Theophilos III said in a statement issued yesterday that increasing attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque are a "blatant aggression against religious rights", adding that it is imperative for all honourable Muslims and Christians to unite in defeating them.

27 Sep 2022; MEMO: Iraqi Parliament Speaker, Mohammed Al-Halbousi, yesterday submitted his resignation.

Parliamentarians are due to vote on whether or not to accept Al-Halbousi's resignation tomorrow, details issued by the parliament's media office showed.

Tomorrow's session will also include a vote on electing the first deputy parliament speaker to replace Hakim Al-Zamili of the Sadrist movement, who resigned along with all members of his bloc in mid-June.

27 Sep 2022; MEMO: Lebanon's first grain shipment from Ukraine under the Istanbul grain export deal arrived in the port of Tripoli yesterday, Anadolu news agency reported.

Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Ostosh said, during the reception held to receive the ship, that Kyiv seeks to prevent a food crisis despite the negative impact of the Russian invasion.

26 Sep 2022; MEMO: Iran accused the United States, on Monday, of using unrest triggered by the death of a woman in police custody to try to destabilise the country, and warned it would not go unanswered, as the biggest protests since 2019 showed no signs of abating, Reuters reports.

26 Sep 2022; MEMO: Lebanon's Parliament passed the 2022 budget on Monday, using an exchange rate for customs tax revenues that lies far below the market value of the Lebanese pound, falling short of economic reform measures that would pave the way for an IMF deal, Reuters reports.

An agreement with the lender of last resort is seen as a first crucial step for Lebanon to begin exiting a three-year financial implosion that has left most people poor and plunged the country into its worst crisis since the 1975-90 Civil War.