Middle East & North Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Rebellious forces from the Tigray region killed 120 civilians over two days in one village in Ethiopia's Amhara region, local officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

The killings happened in a village 10 km (six miles) from the town of Dabat on Sept. 1 and 2, according to Sewnet Wubalem, the local administrator in Dabat, and Chalachew Dagnew, the spokesperson of the nearby city of Gondar.

A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Moroccans are choosing a new parliament and new local leaders Wednesday in elections reshaped by the pandemic.

Candidates are promising to create jobs and boost Morocco’s economy, education and health care. The kingdom has been hit hard by the pandemic, but has Africa’s highest vaccination rate so far.

DOHA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied on Tuesday reports that the Taliban had blocked Americans attempting to fly out of of a northern Afghan city, but said the group had not allowed charter flights to depart because some people lacked valid travel documents.

Reports have emerged over the past few days that 1,000 people, including Americans, had been stuck at Mazar-i-Sharif airport for days awaiting clearance for their charter flights to leave.

07 Sep 2021; MEMO: A former Minister of Information in Jordan called on Monday for Arab countries to open their borders to Palestinian escapees from Israeli prisons, Quds Press has reported. Taher Al-Odwan made his comment in response to the news that six Palestinians have escaped from Israel's high-security Gilboa Prison.

07 Sep 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces set up flying checkpoints around the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday fearing that the six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from a high-security prison overnight may try to cross into the coastal territory, Sama news agency has reported.

07 Sep 2021; MEMO: Palestine's Mufti Mohammad Hussein warned on Monday about Israeli raids at Al Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem's Old City during the Jewish holiday season. The mufti's statement came in response to calls by Jewish groups for their followers to show up in large numbers at the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam, during the holiday period.

07 Sep 2021; MEMO: President Mahmoud Abbas called Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Defence Minister Benny Gantz on Monday and congratulated them on the occasion of the Jewish New Year, the Palestinian leader's office has announced. Abbas expressed his hopes for peace in the coming year.

According to Herzog's spokesperson, Abbas also wished for more cooperation and dialogue that will bring hope for both peoples.

07 Sep 2021; MEMO: Yemen's Houthi group yesterday accused Britain of spying on the country's telecommunications networks, with the complicity of the internationally recognised government.

"Britain is carrying out espionage activities on some Yemeni telecommunications networks, and some submarine cables from southern governorates, which they have taken as bases for them to serve their colonial goals," a member of the group's negotiating delegation, Abdul Malik Al-Ajri, wrote on Twitter.

07 Sep 2021; MEMO: Jordan is to host a regional meeting to discuss energy and gas supplies to Lebanon, which continues to suffer from severe shortages of fuel and essential goods amid its political and economic crises.

07 Sep 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces and settlers committed 2,063 violations against Palestinians in August, killing eight including a child, the Palestinian media office in the occupied West Bank reported.