Middle East & North Africa

TRIPOLI, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Libya received a batch of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines on Monday amid the country's stepped-up effort to vaccinate as many people as possible.

Speaking at a joint press conference on Monday along with Health Minister Ali Zanati at the Mitiga International Airport of the capital Tripoli upon the arrival of the vaccines, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said another shipment of the vaccine is expected to arrive on Tuesday.

Dbeibah called on people to get vaccinated as soon as possible "as this is the only way to stop the virus."

BEIRUT (AP) — Senior Lebanese officials knew of the risks posed by the highly explosive material stored for years at Beirut’s port and did nothing to protect the public against it, an international human rights group said Tuesday.

In a report on last year’s massive blast, Human Rights Watch said those same officials are now trying to thwart the investigation.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader officially endorsed his hard-line protégé as the nation’s next president on Tuesday, just two days ahead of the inauguration of Ebrahim Raisi. The new president’s ascension comes at a sensitive time for Iran and the wider Middle East.

Iran is reeling from crushing U.S. sanctions that have devastated the economy, led to the crash of the Iranian riyal and hit ordinary Iranians hard.

NICOSIA, August 2. /TASS/: Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades’ office said on Monday it has received Russian President Vladimir Putin’s letter of response to the Cypriot leader’s messages concerning the situation around Varosha, an abandoned southern quarter of the Cypriot city of Famagusta.

"We deem unilateral actions in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 550 and 789 inadmissible," the office quoted Putin’s letter.

TRIPOLI, Aug 2 (NNN-Xinhua) — The Libyan Interior Ministry said that people who breach curfew instructions against COVID-19 could be punished with six months in prison or receive a fine of 200 dinars or both.

The ministry said the decision aims to “save people’s lives, maintain their safety, and prevent rapid spread of the virus.”

Interior Minister Khaled Mazen issued instructions to all security services to implement the instructions.

The Libyan Government has imposed a curfew due to an increased number of COVID-19 infections.

GAZA, Aug 2 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian health officials said, late last night that, a third wave of COVID-19 is expected soon in the besieged Gaza Strip, home of more than two million people.

Head of the departments to combat coronavirus at the European hospital, Mahmoud al-Sheikh, told reporters that the number of COVID-19 patients admitted in the hospitals is increasing, as a new wave of coronavirus is expected at the end of Aug, and “it will reach its peak between Oct and Nov.”

BEIRUT, Aug 2 (NNN-NNA) – Five people were killed and over 10 others were wounded yesterday, in an armed clash between supporters of Hezbollah and a rival faction, in Khaldeh, at the southern entrance of Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel, reported.

The armed clashes erupted after the funeral of Ali Chebli, a Hezbollah supporter, who was killed during a wedding in the area on Saturday night. Saturday’s killing was committed by the brother of a teenager, who was killed in a clash last year, allegedly by Chebli, according to the report.

02 Aug 2021; MEMO: The International Jurists Union (IJU) has announced that it will send an official delegation to Tunisia this week for three days, during which it will meet with several activists in the field of freedom and human rights to determine the situation in Tunisia.

02 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Fadi Al-Hadmi, yesterday called on the international community to "immediately intervene" in the Sheikh Jarrah case which sees Palestinians being forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for illegal settlers.

Al-Hadmi warned in a statement that the Israeli government describes the case as a "real estate dispute", noting what is happening in Sheikh Jarrah is a "political issue par excellence".

02 Aug 2021; MEMO: Tunisia Parliamentary Speaker and head of the Ennahda party Rached Ghannouchi "has never and will never think of leaving the country," the Deputy Chairman of the Tunisian Assembly of People's Representatives, Maher Medhioub, said yesterday, denying news that he may have sought treatment abroad.