Middle East & North Africa

BUREIJ, Gaza Strip (AP) — Last spring, a Palestinian farmer was planting a new olive tree when his shovel hit a hard object. He called his son, and for three months, the pair slowly excavated an ornate Byzantine-era mosaic that experts say is one of the greatest archaeological treasures ever found in Gaza.

The discovery has set off excitement among archaeologists, and the territory’s Hamas rulers are planning a major announcement in the coming days.

15 Sep 2022; MEMO: Turkish florists are resorting to cargo planes instead of trucks as they rush to send as many flowers as they can to the United Kingdom to meet a deluge of orders after the death of Queen Elizabeth, Reuters reports.

Orders for cut flowers have soared by 90 per cent since the Queen died, said Selcuk Celebi, a member of the Antalya Commodity Exchange, adding that Turkish florists were only able to meet about 40 per cent of the demand.

15 Sep 2022; MEMO: Israeli political parties submitted their final lists of candidates on Thursday for an unprecedented fifth election in four years, which looks unlikely to break the deadlock between former premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his bitter rivals, Reuters reports.

15 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Qatari Government has bought a stake in the Eurasia Tunnel Company in Istanbul from the South Korean partner in the venture, SK Group, a statement by the Turkish Competition Board showed, Reuters reports.

According to the report, the Qatar Investment Authority has bought the shares of Turkiye's tunnel via its unit, QH Oil Investment LLC, from SK HoldCo Pte.

15 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Biden administration has decided to withhold $130 million of foreign military aid to Egypt over its failure to fulfil human rights conditions, US officials said on Wednesday, but allowed some funds to go through due to its determination that Cairo has made progress on political detentions, Reuters reports.

15 Sep 2022; MEMO: The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that a staff mission will visit Lebanon next week to discuss ways to "speed up" implementation of agreed reforms required for an IMF loan program amid deteriorating living conditions in the country, Reuters reports.

16 Sep 2022; MEMO: A new poll has revealed that the majority of Turkish citizens say tensions with Greece are caused by politics and the elections, as disputes between the two neighbours continue to worsen.

16 Sep 2022; MEMO: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, hailed growing ties with Tehran as he met his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Putin said Iran will soon join the SCO, a security group formed by Beijing and Moscow, as a full-fledged member. Iran signed a Memorandum of Commitment Wednesday for its permanent membership in the regional organisation.

16 Sep 2022; MEMO: Tunisia's Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) announced yesterday that it had received a "draft decree that regulates the legislative elections" from the president.

ISIE spokesperson, Mohamed Mansri, told the official Tunisian News Agency that "the ISIE Board is studying the draft since ISIE is a consultative body."

16 Sep 2022; MEMO: Egyptian and French naval forces carried out joint naval drills in French territorial waters, with the aim of "supporting efforts to maintain stability in the region", the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement yesterday.

"The Egyptian-French naval training activities, Cleopatra-2022, which will last for several days, have been launched in French territorial waters," Gharib Abdel Hafez said.