Middle East & North Africa

Algiers, July 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Algerian authorities have imposed partial lockdowns on 35 provinces amid a rapid surge in coronavirus infections in the country.

People have been instructed to stay at home from 20:00 to 06:00 local time for 10 days in the provinces believed to have the most infection rates including the capital Algiers.

All gatherings, social and cultural as well as sporting events will be banned to curb the spread of the virus.

DAMASCUS, Jul 27 (NNN-SANA) – Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, said yesterday that, his government is working continuously for the return of Syrian refugees.

The Syrian leader made the remarks, during his meeting with visiting Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Syria.

QUBAH, Libya, July 27 (Reuters) - Libya will return to "square one" and the turmoil of 2011 if national elections planned for December are delayed, the speaker of parliament said, with a new rival government likely to set itself up in the east.

The elections are seen in the West as a critical step in efforts to bring stability to Libya, which has been in chaos since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

ADDIS ABABA, July 27 (Reuters) - Thousands of Ethiopian army recruits paraded in Addis Ababa on Tuesday to bid farewell before leaving for training, potential future participants in a bloody eight-month-old conflict in the north that continues to spread and intensify.

Young women and men wearing plastic sandals and baseball caps with slogans such as "Ethiopia is calling" danced in central Meskel Square at a ceremony attended by defence minister Kenea Yadeta and the capital's deputy mayor, Adanech Abiebe.

27 July 2021; MEMO: A decision by Israel's Environmental Protection Minister, Tamar Zandberg, to freeze a major oil deal with the UAE to Israel might lead to ties between the two countries being severed, UAE officials have warned.

27 July 2021; MEMO: Calls for the academic boycott of Israel have been given a massive boost by 160 academics representing 21 countries who have signed an open letter calling on the European Commission to ban Israeli universities that support the country's apartheid policies and human rights violations from receiving funds from an European Union (EU) programme worth over $100 billion.

27 July 2021; MEMO: Palestinian activists and Jerusalemites yesterday gathered at two tents set up in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in an effort to thwart Israeli attempts to dismantle the tents which are used to hold rallies against the occupation's plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from the area to make way for illegal Jewish settlers.

27 July 2021; MEMO: Fifty-three per cent of those displaced in Yemen are children, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced yesterday.

The humanitarian organisation explained that Yemeni refugees are struggling "even more when being forced to flee their homes."

"In #Yemen, 53% of those displaced by the ongoing conflict are children," the UNHCR said on Twitter, adding that in spite of this, "they always find a way to be happy".

TUNIS, July 27 (Reuters) - Tunisia's biggest party, the moderate Islamist Ennahda, on Tuesday called for a national dialogue to get the country out of crisis after it accused the president of a coup when he dismissed the prime minister and suspended parliament.

In a reversal of a call early on Monday to its supporters to take to the streets against President Kais Saied's actions, Ennahda urged dialogue and efforts to avoid civil strife.

ISTANBUL, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police have detained 709 illegal immigrants in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul, state-run Anadolu news agency reported Tuesday.

Istanbul police forces launched operations against irregular migrants in 11 districts across the city between July 15-25, and a total of 709 migrants, including 214 Afghans, have been detained.

Turkey has recently witnessed an influx of refugees from Afghanistan fleeing escalating violence and turmoil in their homeland.