Middle East & North Africa

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: Hamas yesterday rejected Israel's construction plans around the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied Hebron, describing it as "aggression" against Palestinian sanctities.

Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, told Anadolu that the Israeli plan to change the Ibrahimi Mosque's features and build an elevator is part of "the Israeli ongoing aggression against the sanctities of our people", adding that "the Israeli occupation is trying to falsify reality, history and facts".

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: Israel urged the Polish authorities to repeal a newly approved law that prevents Holocaust survivors and descendants of victims from obtaining restitution for property and assets that were seized when they were forced to leave Poland during and after the Second World War.

Members of the Israeli Knesset warned that the new law, which was approved by the Polish parliament on Wednesday, will deprive Holocaust survivors and their descendants from access of their property rights.

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: Turkey and Sudan today set a target of $2 billion trade in the next five years, Turkey's vice president said.

"Our trade with Sudan reached $480 million in 2020," Fuat Oktay said during a Turkey-Sudan round-table meeting in the capital Ankara.

Mining is an important area in Turkey's commercial cooperation with Sudan, he added.

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has reduced the number of settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories that his government intends to approve next week by more than 1,000 for fear of backlash from America, Israel's Kan reported.

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Asad Khan, announced on Thursday that a memorandum of understanding has been signed with Sudan for the extradition of wanted persons to The Hague, most notably ousted President Omar Al-Bashir. Khan made the announcement at the conclusion of a visit to Khartoum that was extended for several days.

The ICC official pointed out that the agreement signed with Sudan by the court's former prosecutor only included Ali Kushayb, who is being tried before the court.

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: Construction companies in Israel have been invited to submit tenders for the construction of the Mughrabi Gate Bridge which takes Israelis from the Al-Buraq courtyard (Western Wall) into Al-Aqsa Mosque compounds.

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: Twenty-two people have been arrested in Algeria after being suspected of causing the wildfires that have killed 65 people, the president revealed yesterday.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune explained that some of the wildfires were a result of the unusually high temperatures, but most were the work of criminals.

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Turkish Coast Guard rescued a group of asylum seekers who were abandoned by a Greek Coast Guard boat on an uninhabited Turkish island, said an official statement on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Greek boat dropping off the asylum seekers on the Mediterranean island of Basak, near the coastal town of Kas in the Antalya province, was seen by drones assisting in local firefighting efforts, the National Defense Ministry said.

Jajpur (Odisha), Aug 12 (PTI) In a bizarre case of human revenge, a 45-year-old tribal man reportedly bit a snake to death after the latter bit him in a remote village in Odisha's Jajpur district.

Kishore Badra of Gambharipatia village under Salijanga panchayat under Danagadi block was returning home after working in his paddy field on Wednesday night, when a snake bit him on his leg.

Badra managed to capture the viper and bit it to death in a bid to take revenge.

Kanpur: The police plunged into action after a video of Hindutva goons thrashing a Muslim e-rickshaw driver  surfaced on social media, where the mob can be seen forcing the man to chant Jai Shree Ram.

Several teams were formed to identify and nab the culprits, and police was quick to arrest three of the goons.

A dharna was staged outside the DCP office here on Thursday night.

The accused are aged between 25 and 30 years. They are said to be residents of the Barra area in the city.